In a Time of Magic
by PaddySnuffles
Summary: Before Hermione could do so much as scream, the glow grew to an intense blinding light, which enveloped girl and book. As soon as it had come, the light disappeared, leaving the aisle empty with a small brown book opened on the floor. HP crossover
1. Erm, Where am I?

**A/N: Hello everyone, I apologize for the delay on my other stories, but I have to wait for my mom to figure how to e-mail me the first parts of the chapters of my other two stories before I can update them, as I only have the parts I continued in my notebook (knowing her, it could take a while****…). I started this here in Brazil after watching the season 2 premiere of BBC's Merlin. This will most likely be an Arthur/Gwen and either Merlin/Hermione or Merlin/Morgana. The characters never let me do what I want, so I've decided to give them the liberty of deciding how that pairing's gonna go. As if I could do something to stop them… **

_A huge thanks to EusouoPumbaa__ for her patience when I asked for feedback every five sentences, putting up with my horrid chicken scratch, and allowing me to use her idea for the name of the translation spell._ 

**Disclaimer:** Roses are red, Violets are blue, I do not own, so do not sue!

It was a cold midwinter day in December. Most of Hogwart's occupants were bundled up even inside the castle, as the winter chill seemed to seep through the stones, reaching out to envelop anyone who stayed too long away from the warmth of one of the castle's many fireplaces. Few strayed from the comfort of the fire and a comfortable seat, no matter what activity they had immersed themselves. Students did homework, chatted, and caught up on their studies. Hermione Granger, best friend of The-Boy-Who-Lived and a powerful witch in her own right, was one of the few brave souls to venture away from the comfort of the fires and the presence of her friends. Although usually seen on one of the couches in the Gryffindor common room buried by books of all shapes and sizes, today she could be found slowly trudging through a darkened corner of the library, looking intently at the volumes she passed by.

She slowed down as she came to the end of the aisle. Hermione bent down and looked at the books at the bottom, searching for anything that seemed promising. Skimming through the titles, she stopped when she came across a thin, titleless book. Stuck between a thick old volume entitled _A Detailed_ _Historie of Magick _ and _Legendary Wizards of the Ancient World_ was a small brown book. Compared to the other books found in this section, it was very thin, no bigger than a thick muggle textbook. Pulling it out, Hermione realized it was obviously very ancient. The cover was made of very worn light brown leather, and was held closed by two rusted iron latches.

Sitting on the ground, Hermione carefully opened the latches. The book was hand written, and filled with detailed pictures of magical creatures and plants. The writing was, for the most part, a simple, yet elegant script, meticulously written. The margins however, were often filled with a scratchy hurried letters, and once or twice with a curvy fancy writing. Whoever had owned the book had clearly put it to good use. Some pages had stains on them, and a couple were even singed at the edges. The book, despite its age, reminded Hermione of Harry's and Ron's textbooks. The book was written in another language, most likely Old English, considering how old the volume was.

Hermione pulled out her wand, pointed at herself, and murmured "Traduzium". She watched as the words morphed into English. As soon as they did, the book began to glow softly, and before Hermione could do so much as scream, the glow grew to an intense blinding light, which enveloped girl and book. As soon as it had come, the light disappeared, leaving the aisle empty, with a small brown book opened on the floor.

The day was hot. Really very, very hot. Merlin would have much rather stayed by the castle, working in the shade then trodding through the forest after Arthur. Of course, the prince had seen the weather as a chance to go hunting, and, instead of hiding from the heat, he had dragged Merlin with him.

"Merlin!" the aforementioned monarch whispered exasperatedly,"stop being so lazy and get a move on! We'll be lucky to catch a squirrel at the rate you're going!"

Sighing, the young warlock pulled the bag he held further up over his shoulder and picked up his pace to catch up to Arthur. Just after reaching his side, a twig snapped loudly to their left.

Arthur immediately raised his bow, pointing it to the area the noise had come from. Motioning to Merlin for silence, he slowy started to edge towards the source of the noise. As he moved closer, a figure appeared, fighting its way through the bushes. As it won its fight against the shrubbery, Arthur realized it was a young woman, no older than himself, perhaps even a couple years younger.

She had short light brown hair, fair skin, and hazel eyes. And was dressed quite indecently, but by the look of her clothing she was likely foreign, so the indecency was understandable. She wore a thin white shirt that looked like it was made of similar material as that of a nightdress, but of a finer make. The shirt had short elbow-length sleeves and a collar. It had buttons down the front, all the way to her hips, where the shirt ended. The shirt was untucked, and rested over a short gray skirt that reached just over her knees, with meticulously pressed folds all around it. Her knees were bare, but she had socks that matched her skirt, with plenty of twigs and leaves caught on the material. As she came slowly and warily into the trail, Arthur noted her shoes were made of an uncommonly shiny black leather, and she had her hair tied back messily with some odd ribbon, scarlet and golden yellow in colour. In her hands she held a black bundle, and a smooth polished stick.

"Erm, hello," the girl said uncertainly, "this might sound a bit odd, but, where am I?"

Arthur raised his eyebrows, "you don't know where you are?"

"I – I've… been traveling for some time, you see, and its been a while since I've come across anyone who could tell me where I was."

"You've been traveling, in _this_ forest, by _yourself_?" Merlin asked incredulously.

"I can take care of myself," the girl replied indignantly.

Merlin gave her a questioning look.

"I _can_!"

"Well, of course you can," Arthur said seriously, trying not to laugh at the thought of the slight, weaponless girl defending herself against thieves or some beast that roamed the forest with nothing but her glorified twig, "but since we're all going in the same direction, would you give us the honour of escorting you to Camelot?"

"Er… I guess that'd make sense," The girl acquiesced uncertainly, "I'm Hermione, by the way. Hermione Granger."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance Hermione Granger. I'm Prince Arthur Pendragon of Camelot, and that's my manservant, Merlin."

Hermione smiled and blushed, giving out a squeaky, shy "Hello" and proceeded to stare intently at the ground. The three started to make their way across the forest path, and as Merlin was oddly quiet, Arthur turned to Hermione, curious about the odd wild-looking girl.

"So, Miss Granger -"

"Hermione."

"Hermione. Where are you from?"

"Hogsmeade. It's a tiny village very far from here. I doubt you've heard of it, hardly anyone knows it even exists."

"It must be very far indeed. Your clothes are very different from the way women in Camelot dress. It might be wise to buy something… local when we arrive into town. How much money do you have to spend?" Arthur asked kindly.

"I was actually hoping to find work somewhere, I don't have any money anymore…" Hermione said somewhat embarrassedly.

"I'm sure we can find some kind of work for you at the castle. If Merlin here was able to get a job as my manservant, I'm sure you can at least get a job as a maid." Arthur assured her cheerfully.

Merlin flushed at the mention of his name, and quickly intervened to defend himself. "I got that job for saving your life! You'd be dead if it wasn't for me."

"And you've been late to work, insubordinate, and whiny ever since. The worst servant I've ever had."

The two continued bickering animatedly, while Hermione watched on, laughing at their antics. By the time they were within seeing distance of the castle, she had relaxed considerably…

**A/N: Well, there's chapter one. ****I hope everyone likes it… Next chapter: They reach Camelot and Hermione meets the rest of the Merlin cast… oh, my. ******** I'm already hard at work on chapter two, so it shouldn't be too long before I can post it.**


	2. Dresses and House Colours

**A/N: Hey everyone! Here's chapter two, as promised. I hope you all enjoy it. =) I'm sorry if these first few chapters look a little messy visually. I'm still getting used to my aunt's computer, and the chapters here end up looking different when uploaded into than when I write in my own computer. I'm doing my best to understand it quickly to make things easier to und****erstand (in theory, when there's a time change or change in PoV it's supposed to have a line to separate them, etc). **

**Disclaimer:** Wish I may, wish I might, have Merlin Season 2 Episode 2 to watch tonight. Since I don't it's clear to see, it does not belong to me. Harry Potter helped me learn English, but it still belongs to someone British.

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Crap. Crap, crap, crap. Dammit. For a moment, Hermione had held to the hope she had not gone too far back in time. The introduction made by the blond man, _Arthur_, utterly dashed her hopes all out the window. Remembering the rules McGonagall had drilled into her in third year, she had somehow miraculously managed to keep her cool. During the walk to the castle she remained relatively quiet, planning out what her story was going to be. An omitted (and slightly edited) version of the truth was probably best.

She lost all train of thought however when they went up a hill, and castle towers became visible. Her vision was soon filled with a grand castle, made with a light grey stone. It was a truly majestic sight, looking just like a real life fairytale castle. Which, Hermione realized with a quiet laugh, it was. Camelot was as present in muggle culture as it was in wizard culture. Muggle or otherwise, everyone knew about the legends of Arthur and his counselor, the sorcerer Merlin.

When they reached the inside of the castle walls, with people running every which way going about their daily business, the enormity of what had happened hit poor Hermione like a ton of bricks. She was completely and utterly alone and stuck in pre-Arthurian England. She had no "proper" clothes, nor the money to buy new ones with (she doubted galleons, sickles, and knuts would do her any good). Hermione didn't even speak the language. Were it not for her translating spell on that damn book, she would have never understood a word anyone said. At lest she had her wand, and her school clothes as a reminder of home, her last link to her time and her world.

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Arthur led her to a lavishly decorated room, where a beautiful raven haired, fair skinned young woman in an equally stunning dark purple dress sat reading a book. He exchanged some quiet words with her and turned to Hermione.

"Morgana has agreed to lend you one of her dresses. You are, of course, more than welcome to join us at tonight's feast."

Morgana then proceeded to shoo the boys from the room, while asking for them to send "Gwen" up to help her.

"Lady Granger, do you have a preference as to what colour you wear? I do not wish to insult you by offering you a colour that may mean something bad wherever it is you're from."

"No, not at all, I don't want to impose. Any spare dress will do fine. And please, call me Hermione."

"Very well, Hermione it is, then," Morgana conceded with a smile, "but you must call me Morgana in return."

Hermione was not sure what to make of the young woman. The myths of Camelot told of the sorceress Morgana, of course, but there were so many conflicting accounts about the witch it was hard to know what was accurate. Though quiet and reserved Hermione felt the witch was no more evil and dangerous than she was. Deciding to trust her instincts she made a silent agreement with herself to treat the stories of an evil Morgana as false, unless she gave Hermione a reason to doubt that.

"Morgana, I was wondering, why did you call me 'Lady Granger'?" Hermione asked her curiously.

Morgana looked up surprised, "Well, I thought it was obvious. Your clothes are very finely made, no matter how…exotic they might be, and your hair ribbon is made of expensive colours. No one outside of nobility has the money for something dyed scarlet and bright yellow, especially in that pattern."

She was interrupted from saying anything else by a knock on the door, after which a beautiful slight young woman with curly black hair and tanned olive skin poked her head through the door.

"You called for me, milady?"

"Yes, Gwen, come in. this is Lady Hermione Granger of Hogsmeade, she is to stay with us a while and requires assistance on choosing a dress to wear. I was thinking one of these two would suit her well, what do you think?"

The next few minutes were filled with the two medieval girls happily dressing up Hermione. Much to the modern witch's surprise, she soon came to understand the servant girl was named Guinevere. As in _Queen_ Guinevere. Though obviously that hadn't yet come to pass. Eventually she was dressed in a beautiful crimson gown lined with gold thread, after she admitted that those were indeed her "house colours". Which wasn't a lie, really. It wasn't her fault if their idea of what a house colour was was different from the modern term. They adorned her hair with a thin golden circlet, and pulled up part of her hair to keep it from falling in her face, pinning it with simple bronze pins. They finished just in time to go to the feast.

**A/N: There we go! Chapter 2! I'm rather surprised at how fast I was able to update this, to tell you the truth… I was going to continue, but I wanted to update asap after those lovely reviews (thank you!), so I cut the dinner scene and it'll be the beginning of chapter 3, which I'll start writing right away. =) Again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. And please review. It really does make my day**** just that much brighter. ^_^**


	3. Dinner and Potions

**A/N: Wel, you can thank my ****aunt's evil computer for this chapter. After hours of searching for Merlin Season 2, I finally found a site that would play in Brazil… Only to find that the computer's sound system isn't working, God knows why. So I decided "Fanfic it is, then!". **

**A/N 2: Just fyi, Hermione is from an au of the book cannon. Hermione was spending her 7****th**** year at Hogwarts with Harry, Ron, and the rest of the non-graduated DA members. I am not yet sure if Dumbledore and Sirius are alive or dead, but you can ignore most of Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows. **

Hermione entered the dining hall, which reminded her of a smaller version of the Great Hall back at Hogwarts. Instead of the many tables however, this hall had only one. It was a massive, extremely long table made of a dark wood, which held silver and brass plates, goblets and candles, with space for what Hermione could only assume would be filled by the food once everyone was settled.

At the head of the table sat a middle aged man, with brown hair peppered with grey. Arthur sat to his right, and Merlin stood behind him.

"You can sit with me, Hermione," Morgana said quietly, leading her to the seats beside the king on his left.

"Ah, Lady Hermione! Father, this is the young woman I was telling you about!" Arthur exclaimed happily when he saw Hermione trailing behind Morgana.

"Lady Granger. I must admit I have never heard of your lands or your family before. Please, sit. Tell us about your home. Why have you travelled so far to Camelot?" King Uther asked her as she sat down, and motioned to a servant to begin bringing in the food.

"Oh. Um, let's see. I'm from a village called Hogsmeade in the kingdom of Hogwarts. I had to come across the sea, from the mainland to reach Camelot, that's how far my home is. I'd never seen the sea before, or even heard of it until I came to the shore where I took the boat that brought me here. I'm the daughter of a Duke, but I live in a small village. You see, our kingdom is in danger of being overrun by a dark sorcerer known as Voldemort.

He was a Baronet in our King's court, but he turned to the Dark Arts in search of power. He's become all but invincible, and has increasing support, as the only choices he gives are to join him or be killed. He has been killing all the nobility, we don't know why. My friends and I, being children of the nobility of highest rank, were sent to Hogsmeade for protection.

Recently, we received word Voldemort had killed my parents and learned of our whereabouts, so each of us left in opposite directions, attempting to get as far from the kingdom as we possibly could. My companion, my faithful servant Dobby, was killed by Voldemort as we fled the outskirts of the kingdom. I barely made it out with my life."

"You have my greatest sympathy, Lady Granger. We share your views on sorcery here at Camelot, and you are welcome to stay here for as long as you believe you require before it is safe for you to return," King Uther said.

"Your land forbids magic?" Hermione asked surprisedly. What was the world coming to? Merlin and Guinevere were servants; magic wasn't allowed… what next? Merlin and Morgana weren't really sorcerers?

"That surprises you?" Uther replied.

"A little. I don't know why. After all, there are no sorcerers running about."

"Indeed not. Sorcery is outlawed in Camelot. Sorcerers and anyone caught helping them are to be put to death, under our laws. You need not fear magic while in my kingdom."

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Hermione had been given a room by Morgana's own bedroom. That night, lying in bed, she contemplated what she would do now. With magic being forbidden, she could hardly ask Merlin or Morgana for help, in case the legends had got that wrong as well. She couldn't outright ask for help, and couldn't even use her magic when alone, in case someone caught her.

After much tossing and turning, she fell into a fretful but dreamless sleep, only waking when the sun managed to sneak through the window and warm her face. Soon after waking, Gwen came in to help her dress, and lead her to the hall for breakfast.

The morning was turning out to be rather boring. As a noble, she was not expected to do any work other than painting, sewing, or arranging flowers. Hermione had never been good at crafts. By mid morning she had taken to wandering the castle, exploring its enormity and praying for something, anything, to do. Walking down a torch lit windowless corridor, she saw a semi open door with a warm light filtering through. Peeking through the crack, she saw an old man, hard at work at making some sort of potion. Potions. Now, _this_ she could do!

She knocked gently. The older man looked up surprised, smiling softly when he saw her lingering by the door.

"Ah, come in my dear! There's no need to be shy. You must be the visitor from far away I've heard so much about. I'm Gaius, the court Physician."

"I'm sorry, I was walking through the corridor, and the door was open. I saw you were mixing potions, and I couldn't help but be intrigued... I've always had a knack for it myself… I'm sorry for intruding, I can see you're hard at work," Hermione said shily.

"Nonsense!" Gaius said happily, "it's never a bother to make new friends, especially from someone interested in potion-making. Feel free to drop by anytime, if ever you need anything. I was just preparing some liverwort balm. It does wonders for healing headaches. Would you like to help?"

Hermione's face lit up at his offer, and the morning then flew by, with Gaius teaching her not only how to make the liverwort balm, but also how to make a potion to help with one's eyesight, and how to tell the difference between St. Peter's wort and St. John's wort. She begun attempting to reproduce the balm she had helped the elderly physician make, when Merlin burst through the door.

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"Gaius, I have to eat quickly today, Arthur wants me to help him practice his sparring, then I'm sure he'll want me to clean the swords, you know how he gets when –" Merlin cut himself off when he saw who Gaius had in his company.

The odd young noblewoman he and Arthur had rescued from the forest stood by the physician's work table, a vile of purple liquid in one hand and a small iron measuring spoon in the other, hair tied back in a messy knot.

She looked just as surprised to find him here as he was to find her. She was here, in his home.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know you were with somewone. Lady Hermione, how are you? You look much better rested," he started babbling.

Hermione blushed, "I'm fine, thank you. Please, call me just Hermione. Lady Hermione just seems so… formal."

"Very well. Erm, lunch should be served shortly, so perhaps you might want to leave now if you don't want to miss it. I could take you if you want."

"Thank you. I'm bound to get lost if I go by myself," she said with a laugh, "Gaius, may I come back to help you after lunch?"

"Of course."

Hermione put down the vial and spoon, and turned to Merlin, indicating for him to lead the way.

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**A/N: Tadaaaa! Chapter three! I hope everyone's liking the story so far. ****Thank you for the lovely reviews. =) It makes me run around the house bragging to everyone who'll listen. XD Chapter four may take a bit longer because it's being very stubborn. Then again, I might get a sudden flash of genius and get it to work with me. ;-)**


	4. Nightmares and Reassurances

**A/N: ****Though a pain to write at first, (I'm not sure why) it ended up going quite smoothly, so although I expected this to take a lot longer to write and edit, it ended up quite nicely, if I do say so myself. =) Thank you all for the encouragement, and please, keep the reviews coming! They're the best encouragement I could have! **

**Disclaimer: **Though I forgot to say this last time, Merlin and Harry Potter are not mine.

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It had been a little over a week since Hermione Granger had run into Merlin and Arthur at the outskirts of the forest. If Merlin thought she was a little odd before he had a chance to know her, he was now sure she was the weirdest noble he had ever met. She said please and thank you when asking servants for something, called them by name, and often looked apologetic when she asked for anything that would be a lot of work.

As the days had gone by, instead of doing whatever high end girls did, she always scuttled over to Gaius'. There, she could be found cleaning the physician's work area, learning a new potion, or filling up lowering stocks of everyday potions for minor injuries and ailments. She had, in short, become Gaius' unofficial apprentice. As she spent so much time with the old man, it was inevitable she and Merlin spent a lot of time together, and the two were becoming fast friends.

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Arthur had invited Morgana, Hermione, Gwen and Merlin to go to a nearby meadow for a picnic. Merlin was to make and carry the basket, of course. He had gotten up extra early in order to have the basket done in time to do his regular chores before the picnic. He dressed quietly and managed to sneak out without waking Gaius. The hallways were just beginning to become agitated, mainly by servants going about their daily duties.

Merlin smiled when he saw the fires of the kitchen already were burning brightly, and he could smell the baking bread long before he reached the kitchens. He entered the kitchens with a bounce in his step. Though it meant he had to be up earlier than usual, he was still going to have a day of relative rest. And eat royal food. The kitchen was extremely quiet compared to its usual hustle and bustle, which Merlin, not being much of a morning person, had rarely seen before.

He was surprised to find Cook, a stern but kind woman with a gently rounded face and salt and pepper hair that was always tied in a bun, was not doing her routine of coordinating the workings of the busy room, but rather, was sitting on a stool by the fire, an arm wrapped around Hermione and a handkerchief gently drying the girl's watery eyes. Hermione in turn had a dark red velvet coat wrapped around her, with her hair framing her face in soft waves. Her eyes were slightly red, and she held a mug in her hands. Merlin felt his heart clench when he realized she'd been crying.

"There, dearie, don't worry, I'm sure they're all fine. Everyone has bad dreams once in a while, it doesn't mean they come true," Cook said quietly to the girl.

"What's wrong?" Merlin asked worriedly, quickly making his way to join the two women.

"Hermione had a bad dream, that's all," Cook replied softly, "I have to go make sure nothing burns, Merlin, can you stay with her a while?"

"Of course," he replied, taking over Cook's place. The woman gave Hermione an apologetic look and hurried to care for her kitchen. Merlin turned to Hermione.

"What was the dream about?" he asked.

Hermione bit her lip.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Merlin continued, "but I find keeping things bottled up just makes them worse. They fester. Like a wound."

She was quiet for so long, he thought she wasn't going to answer him. When she did, it was so softly, it was almost a whisper.

"I… I dreamt of home. I wasn't there, and Voldemort f-found m-my f-friends… and I was-sn't t-there t-to protect them…" she stuttered and burst out into quiet strangled sobs.

Merlin's heart broke at the sight of his new friend. She had started trembling so hard he had to take the mug from her hands, lest she spill it all over herself. He put on the floor and turned his attentions back to the girl beside him. He hadn't really thought much how hard this must be for her. Hermione seemed so happy and well acclimated to court life, he had forgotten all about the reason she had come to Camelot to begin with. The only reminder he had that she was from far away was the indistinguishable accent she had, and the foreign words she sometimes used. It had never occurred to him how hard leaving everything, including her culture and language really was. He had left his home to come to Camelot, but it wasn't as though he were very far away. And at least he had Gaius already waiting for his arrival.

Hesitantly, he put his arms around her, strengthening his hold when she leant into him for comfort. After a while, she calmed down, and they sat there in silence, Hermione sniffling softly once in a while.

Suddenly, as if realizing what she was doing, Hermione sprang up wiping her eyes with her sleeves and looking embarrassed It was quite possible she would be blushing furiously as well, were her face not already red from crying.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I'll leave you to whatever you were doing before…" she made her way almost out the door when he realized where she was going. Without taking time to think of what he was saying, Merlin took one last attempt to soothe his friend

"I… I know it's nowhere near what you must be going through, but I know how you feel. I had to leave my home as well," he said, "I know how it feels to leave loved ones behind. And I know how it feels to loose them. My friend Will died last year, so I know what that dream must have made you feel like. If you ever have another dream like that… don't hesitate to come to talk to me. Anytime. I'm your friend, I hope, and I want to help."

Hermione looked at him, gave a grateful smile, and whispered thank you, before sliding out the door. Merlin sighed and got to work on preparing the picnic basket.

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**A/N: So? What does everyone think? I was surprised at Hermione's outburst when I wrote it, but if you think of all she's going through she's taking it all fantastically well… Chapter 5 is already half written, so it shouldn't be long for it to come out! ^_^ **


	5. Picnics and Griffins

**A/N: Alright guys, here's Chapter 5! (Wow, I can't believe how fast I'm poppin' these out! =P****)****I apologize if the spelling for "hipogryph" and "Grimmauld Place" is wrong. I don't have a copy of any of the Harry Potter books in English with me to check. If it's wrong, please feel free to let me know.**

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Merlin and Harry Potter... I'd have money. As I am poor as a church mouse, I'll leave you to your own conclusions.

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The day turned out perfect for their plans. It was a warm, with blue skies and a cool breeze which ensured the temperature remained perfect despite the bright sunlight beaming down on the group. Hermione could hardly believe what had happened earlier that day. The terrifying dream of her friends being tortured and killed by Voldemort and his Death Eaters had really shaken her, which was the only reason she could find that would explain how she could have the courage to sob all over Merlin. Dear God, she had soaked the shirt of the most powerful wizard in history by crying hysterically on his shoulder.

Though she had calmed down after her embarrassing breakdown, she had only felt truly better after going through her daily rituals. This in turn haunted her a little. Being in the past should not have a sense of normalcy like that. She couldn't shake the inner dread she'd be stuck away from her home, her friends, and magic if she got too comfortable. Hermione hadn't done so much as a single spell since coming to Camelot, and it was driving her mad. Although helping the elderly physician with his potions helped her feel in touch with her own time in a small way, it was definitely not a substitute for magic.

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"Merlin! Come on, it's only over the hill! And that basket isn't that heavy, stop being so lazy." Arthur shouted over his shoulder. Hermione looked behind her to see the young wizard struggling after the others, carrying a large wicker basket.

She slowed down ant let the other girls pass before asking in with a smile, "Merlin, why don't you let me carry the basket for a while, give your arms a chance to rest? We're almost there anyway."

"No, thanks. Er... I'm alright," he stated before tripping on the narrow path and almost falling flat on his face.

Sheepishly he agreed that she take one side of the basket, and the two quickly caught up to the rest of the group. They set up the picnic in a grassy meadow, near a large pond just outside one of the edges of the forest. The pond had water lilies floating on it, and small fish and frogs would swim by once in a while, clearly visible in the clear blue-green water.

"This is beautiful," Gwen said softly, looking around her in awe.

Arthur looked rather pleased with himself, Hermione noticed amusedly.

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A couple of hours later the teens were all laying relaxed on the blanket they had used as a table. The basket was almost empty and decidedly lighter (while its users felt slightly heavier). They were all sprawled out looking up at the sky and finding shapes in the little wisps passing for clouds that passed by every so often. Hermione was searching the skies for another cloud when a loud screech filled the air. It reminded her of the screeches Buckbeak made before pouncing on any mouse unlucky enough to have made its way into the hipogryph's room at Grimmauld Place.

They all jumped up, tensing in readiness to whatever was coming towards them. A creature burst out of the foliage at high speed. At first, Hermione thought it was a hipogryph. On closer inspection, however, she realized she was very wrong. Though it had the upper body of an eagle, its hind quarters were that of a lion. The griffin flew up into the air, circling the group from above.

"Merlin, take the girls out of here," Arthur ordered as he unsheathed his sword and got into a fighting stance, "I'll distract it."

"What? No! You can't fight that thing alone!" Merlin exclaimed.

"Why do _we_ have to leave?" Gwen asked, looking insulted

"It's because we're _girls_ isn't it?" Morgana completed Gwen's thoughts angrily.

"Yes!" Arthur replied, "this is too dangerous."

"Don't be daft!" Hermione answered, "We can take care of ourselves. Besides, if we leave you lone you don't stand a chance. You don't even have armour on! If we work together we might be able to drive it away."

The three proceeded to arm themselves as best they could. Gwen took the knife they had been using to cut their bread. Morgana took the meat knife, and Merlin and Hermione each took one of the large double spiked forks they had used to serve themselves.

The griffin looked on, and all of a sudden swooped down upon Gwen, apparently deciding she was the weakest of the five. Arthur moved quickly to the serving girl's side, sword at the ready. Hermione moved quickly to the left, while Merlin went to the right, keeping only the side of the forest open to the griffin. Gripping the fork tightly, Hermione held her breath. She felt the magic bubbling up inside her, and as the creature made a lunge at Arthur it burst forth against her will.

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**A/N: I know, I know. I'm pure evil. Hehe. The next chapter is underway. Review! **


	6. Griffins and Hipogryphs

**A/N: Just so there's no confusion, a gryphon and a griffin is the same thing**** gryphon being the older term for the creature, griffin being the more modern term (at least where I'm from). Even in medieval times griffins were considered a creature of wisdom and strength, thus griffin claws (actually antelope horns) were very sought after by nobility to turn into cups. Hence Arthur's anger at not being able to kill it. The information on griffin's habits and the differences between griffins and hipogryphs was taken from Wikipedia.**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Harry Potter. Or Merlin. Sad, but true.

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Arthur moved to strike as the gryphon came at him, it stopped in mid air, looking slightly dazed, attempting to double back as if scared by something. Arthur managed to slash at one of its legs, making a shallow wound. The creature shrieked in pain before careening back. It moved too fast, making itself fall to the ground on its back with a loud thud. As Arthur came running at it, the gryphon jumped up, and awkwardly moved backwards, before turning and galloping in the direction of the forest. Arthur gave chase, only to be thrown heavily to the ground by an invisible force, the gryphon taking flight back into the safety of the forest. Someone had used magic to look out for the beast. He was sure of it.

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Hermione gasped as she felt her magic do its work. She had created a some form of a silent _Protego_ charm to shield Arthur, it was the only explanation for why the griffin had stopped so suddenly. When Arthur had given chase to the retreating wounded animal, she had felt another surge of magic, which had pushed the young monarch to the ground, giving the magical creature enough time to run away.

She rushed towards Arthur along with the others.

"Are you alright?"

"What happened?"

"That was an _amazing_ move!"

"D'you reckon it'll come back?"

"Yes. I'm not sure. Thank you. And no. But as I was running towards the beast I felt something push me down. It was magic. I'm sure of it. Someone didn't want me to kill that gryphon. We have a sorcerer in Camelot." Arthur said as he angrily got up, helping Merlin quickly stuff everything in the basket, and they all left quickly towards the castle.

Hermione was trembling. What if they found out it was her (even if by accident)? Or worse, blamed it on someone who had nothing to do with it? She had suppressed her magic for too long and it had built up and boiled over. If she left it compressed and locked away like that again, the result could be even worse (a faceless image of Harry's blown up aunt popped into her head). And now, with the witch hunt that was sure to follow, she would have to be extra extra careful… while at the same time using her magic enough so that it would not accumulate like that again. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts, Hermione jumped when Gwen laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry," the serving maid said with a sweet smile, "you saw how Arthur was able to fight the gryphon. Whoever this sorcerer is, he won't be able to hide for long."

Hermione smiled softly, and assured her she was not worried.

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Arthur was grouchy the rest of the day, making Merlin do twice as much work as he usually ordered him to do. By the end of the day, the young warlock was more than ready to collapse on a chair or a bed and never get up again.

When he came into the rooms he shared with Gaius that night, he was surprised to find Hermione setting up the table as Gaius stirred the cooking pot.

"Ah, Merlin! There you are! I've invited Hermione to dine with us tonight as everyone is so busy with getting things in order for that warlock hunt. Come, sit down, you look exhausted."

Merlin slumped down on the nearest chair, too tired to argue, but at the same time wide awake with the knowledge of the presence of the girl who had just sat opposite himself on the small wooden table. Gaius brought Merlin a plate full of steaming stew, and sat to his right.

"So," the physician said as he scooped up some of the broth, "what exactly attacked you lot today? Some people have been saying a sorcerer, others say it was a gryphon."

"It was a griffin. Or, a gryphon is what I suppose you might call it," Hermione said looking slightly uneasy, "I thought at first it was a hipogryph, which I thought was odd, because hipogryphs aren't known for being violent unless provoked. But then I noticed it had an eagle's head and front of the body, but its hind legs were a lion's, not a horse's."

Merlin stared at Hermione, feeling impressed at her obvious knowledge.

"I read a lot," she offered, noticing the look on the warlock's face.

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**N/A: Alright, I'm sorry I know I promised someone an extra long chapter, but I've been having trouble with this conversation. And as I ended the last chapter in a cliffie, I thought you guys would prefer a smaller chapter sooner as opposed to a longer chapter later… I hope you liked chapter six, and keep reviewing!**

**P.S. **_And thank you__FireChildSlitheryn5 for the links – they were a great help._** =)**


	7. Talking and Messy Rooms

**A/N: Hey everyone! Here's chapter seven! The spell****s used by Merlin literally mean "clean the room quickly" and "bed" in Old English. I just put the words in a translator, so I'm not sure the grammar is right. If anyone knows if it's wrong, please feel free to let me know! I used Old English because I found in my research that it was the language they used for his spell in the series. If anyone knows what he actually says when using a cleaning spell in the series, please give me a heads up. =) **

**Disclaimer:** *I own Merlin, and Harry Potter… I'm rich and glamorous….* "WAKE UP SLEEPYHEAD!" screams my cousin as he hits me with a cushion.

_Thank you Isis the Sphinx for catching that typo on chapter 6! I went back and fixed it. ^_^_

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"A hipogryph?" Gaius asked, "I think you mean to say a hipogryphe. But those are just legends nowadays. Their race died off a long time ago. There hasn't been a sighting in Camelot or the neighbouring kingdoms in over a hundred years. Gryphons on the other hand are more or less common in the wooded areas. Its one of the only places King Uther hasn't bothered to attempt an extermination of magical creatures, as not many people venture far into the woods. You were lucky to survive the attack, unprepared as you were. Gryphons are rather nasty creatures. Very ill tempered. And violent."

"But why was it in the outskirts of the forest, if it knows its not safe?" Merlin inquired with a confused frown.

"I don't know, Merlin. Perhaps it was lost. Or it was young and unaware of the dangers of leaving the forest. Who knows?"

"What if it _was_ a sorcerer?" Merlin asked worriedly.

"Then Uther will have it dealt with, just as he has in the past. Eat your carrots."

Merlin groaned and began to argue back, but before he could say much of anything a knock resounded on the door and a soldier came into the room.

"The king requires your presence immediately," he said to Gaius in a slightly bored tone.

Gaius sighed and got up.

"Very well, he said, "tell his majesty I shall be there shortly. "

Stopping at the door, Gaius gave Merlin one of his best "mother bear" glares and said seriously "When I get back you had better have eaten those carrots. Or else. And don't even _think_ of putting them back into the pot. _I'll know_."

He would too.

The elderly physician left, closing the door behind him. As soon as he did, Hermione burst out giggling.

"Wow, he sounded just like my mum… I take it you don't like carrots?"

"How could you tell?" Merlin said grinning.

"I have my sources. Why don't you like them?"

"I dunno… they taste… icky."

"You sound like my friend Ron," Hermione snorted, "he shovels pretty much everything and anything into his mouth, except carrots. It's rather disgusting sometimes, actually."

Merlin laughed, "Well, at home I ate them, because you'd never know for how long you'd have food for, but since here food is more or less guaranteed… I figure I've earned the right to be picky. Plus, it drives Gaius up the wall."

Hermione gave another giggle before concentrating some more on the stew in front of her. Merlin followed suit. The two ate in silence for a while. As they were finishing Merlin gathered up his courage to ask her something he'd been wanting to ask for a while.

"Hermione… What's your home like? I mean, the kingdom you come from must be very different from Camelot…"

Hermione froze and stared at her bowl for a second, looking deep in thought. Merlin half expected her to tell him it was none of his business.

Instead, her expression changed into one of guarded resolve, and she asked "What would you like to know?"

Not having expected the reaction he received, Merlin's mind came up blank.

"Erm… Is your home very different from here?"

"Yes," Hermione replied with an odd little smile, "Very. You have no idea."

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The next few hours were filled with conversation. Hermione explained to him about her life carefully filtering out any information about magic, or any muggle inventions the people of this time might perceive as magic. Merlin was curious and eager to find out about what life was like in a "foreign land", and soon enough they had talked about topics ranging from indoor plumbing and toothbrushes ("you clean your teeth with a _brush_?!") to school and jury duty.

Hermione felt rather good about sharing this with Merlin. As long as he didn't know the things they talked about were from the future, she didn't see how she could be breaking any time-travel laws (muggle or wizard). And to talk of her home had a therapeutic effect. She may have been hiding her magic, where she was really from, and a myriad of other things. But at least she could still be partially truthful. She was in the middle of explaining to Merlin the way (wizard) currency worked when the bell struck the time.

"Is it really eleven already?" She asked looking slightly startled.

"Wow… I guess. I can escort you to your room if you like." Merlin replied.

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The next morning Merlin was startled awake by Gaius. Groaning, the young warlock looked at his window to see the pale morning sun filtering softly to the foot of his bed.

"Gaaaiuuuss… it's still early! Why are you waking me up? Go away," he mumbled before turning towards the wall.

"All right. I just thought you'd like to know you have a visitor, and she's waiting for you to wake up to come in. I'll just tell Hermione to come by later, shall I?"

Merlin's eyes shot open, and sat up so fast he felt his back crack.

"I thought you might feel that way," Gaius said with a smirk, "I'll be needing the table for some potion-making, so you'll have to eat over here. Door open please. I'll stall for you to get dressed and get some of this mess hidden away."

The old physician snuck out the door, throwing Merlin an amused look and closed the door behind him. Merlin looked around his room feeling a full-on panic attack. Unlike Arthur's meticulously kept room, Merlin's was so messy it looked like a small tornado had swept across it. Clothes lay splayed every each way. Bits of parchment littered the floor and a small almost-hidden desk, covered with so many books and accumulated junk it was a wonder it hadn't cracked from the weight.

Merlin immediately got up from his wrinkled bed, got his feet tangled on the covers and promptly fell to the floor.

Drastic times called for drastic measures. There was only one way to get this room looking slightly close to presentable in time.

"_Feormian sēo rūm hraþe_," he whispered softly as he pulled on the last tunic he had actually folded in his wardrobe. The clothes all started swooshing into the wardrobe, landing in a haphazard pile to the left. The right was soon filled with a pile of flying scrap bits of parchments. The books righted themselves on the now (mostly) clean desk, his spell book landing at the top.

"L_eger_," he told it as he pulled some pants on.

The book obediently zoomed under the bed.

Closing the doors to his wardrobe, Merlin opened the door to his room, coming face to face with a grinning Hermione.

"Good morning!" she said happily, "I got up early today and couldn't get back to sleep. So I figured, since you must have to wake up early to get Arthur's things in order for the day I'd come by and say hi! I brought breakfast."

He looked at her hands, where she held a small basket hooked to her arm, and two steaming mugs of something that smelled faintly of honey.

Noting his messy hair and slightly bleary-eyed look, her smile wavered.

"I didn't wake you, did I?"

"N-no! No! I always just take a while to wake up," he reassured her quickly.

She laughed, "You're not much of a morning person, are you?"

"I'm not much of a waking up person. Whether I wake up now or at noon, the problem is I'd still be sleepy."

"Aaaah… I know what you mean. It seems between me and my friends, only Neville, Luna, and I actually _enjoy_ getting up," Hermione said while setting down the mugs on the table they had eaten dinner the previous evening.

"Oh, erm, Gaius is going to be using the table. We'll have to eat on the desk in my room," Merlin said blushing.

"Oh… ok," Hermione replied, looking slightly startled.

Merlin picked up the mugs and led the way to his small room. Surprising him yet again, she made no comment over how it was indecorous for her to be in his bedchamber. She merely followed him, set the basket on the semi-clean desk, and proceeded to take out the items. She'd brought a few warm soft rolls, fresh butter, and a small chunk of cheese.

"So… this is your room, huh?" she asked, looking around with a shy but curious look.

"Yes. It's not much, I know," he replied, looking slightly embarrassed.

"I like it. It's simple, but not Spartan. Comfy."

"What's a 'Spartan'?"

"Oh. They were an ancient warrior race. Part of what they believed made good warriors was having only the bare necessities in their home. To make them tough and inventive, I suppose. Back home, to say a room's really Spartan means that it's really bare. It only has the bare minimum."

"Ah," was all he could think to reply.

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**A/N: Ta daaaa! This chapter ****would've been longer, but the power went out in the middle of the frickin' day. And then, when the power came back, the tower would turn on but the monitor wouldn't… (Have I mentioned my aunt's computer is an evil posessed #$%&!*$%#?) My uncle fixed it at like, ten, and then my cousin just **_**had**_** to see how his favourite soccer teams in Spain and Italy were doing. By the time I got to use the computer it was almost eleven… If you are still reading, thanks for listening to my whiny rant. And I hope everyone's still enjoying the story. =)**


	8. Culture Differences and Swords

**A/N: ****I've no idea if Hermione took fencing lessons as a kid, but I'm drawing upon my own meager knowledge from when I took classes years back and saying she did a little. A rapier is very similar to the swords the Three Musketeers or Captain Hook use – the hand is covered by a metal protection, and the blade is thin and has a wicked sharp point, as these swords are meant for stabbing, not slashing. The sword she was given is that traditional broadsword we see in medieval stories and the Merlin series. **

**Disclaimer**: If I owned Harry Potter and Merlin, I'd be rich. Instead, I had to take advantage of the fact my aunt felt sick in order to go see Cirque du Soleil, and blew all my cash on souvenirs. Goodbye, money. It was nice knowin' ya.

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They spent the next couple of hours picking up where they left off on the previous night's conversation. Had Gaius not popped his head in to remind them of the time, Merlin would have been late to go serve Arthur at his morning duties. (Granted, that wasn't unusual, but there was no need for Hermione to know that).

As he entered the prince's bedchamber, Arthur looked up from his seat at the edge of his bed.

"Honestly, Merlin," he ground out as he fought with his boot, "have you never heard of knocking? Actually, never mind. Don't answer that. I forgot who I was speaking to. And why are you up this early? I always have to remind you to not oversleep."

"It must've finally sunk in," Merlin replied, ignoring the first attempt at insulting him. He was in a good mood, and the prince wasn't about to ruin it.

He spent the rest of the day deflecting the grumpy ill-tempered barbs his friend sent his way, patiently understanding his need to take his frustrations out on something. Or rather, someone. Merlin listened quietly as Arthur made a series of plans and strategies to draw out the magic-user, and what would be done once they knew the culprit. Though he would rest easier when the threat was taken care of, it made Merlin no less worried.

The first way Arthur was going to use to attempt the capture was simple and direct, but undoubtedly risky: go into the forest. Attack any magical creature that crossed their path. (Except unicorns, which were to be avoided at all costs since their last encounter with one). Hope the sorcerer would have their attention caught enough to appear. The hunt would begin the next morning.

That afternoon, during dinner, Arthur explained it all in detail to his father. Not to Merlin's surprise, the girls had their own thoughts to add.

"Well, that makes sense," Morgana said to Arthur, "but won't the hunting tire you? To face a sorcerer you should have as much strength as you can. After all, you won't have magic on your side."

"True," he replied, "but we're going in two groups with large numbers. That way we can take turns fighting creatures and save up energy. Assuming we even find any."

"In that case, I'd like to come along," Hermione piped up.

"Most certainly not!" Uther immediately replied, "this is far too dangerous, especially for women!" At that comment, Merlin inwardly cringed. Women in Camelot didn't like to be told they were weaker then men. By what Hermione had told him of her home, women in her land were more often than not ready to pummel anyone who used this line of thinking towards them. He wasn't sure if he should be worried for the king or for Hermione.

"In Hogwarts we're all taught at a young age how to deal with magical creatures. We learn about all their weaknesses and strengths, where to find them, and, most importantly, how to defend ourselves. I've been taught since the age of eleven. You won't find someone more knowledgeable. And I've been taught fencing too. I can hold my own as well as any man."

"Fencing?"

"Er… Swordsmanship."

Looking impressed, Uther agreed to let her go, on the condition she would go mainly as a guide to provide tactical information, and would stay away from the fighting, with Arthur's manservant. Arthur was then instructed to find her some weapons in case she should need them.

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After cleaning the sword and its scabbard Merlin made his way to her room, hoping she hadn't gone to sleep just yet. Knocking on the door, he held the weapon more securely in his arms. When the door opened, Merlin just stared. The candles and fireplace in the room were all lit, meaning the room was filled with light. Which meant he could clearly see Hermione. And she was in her sleeping gown. It was made of white linen with silver flowers stitched around the necline, had slightly puffed sleeves, and dipped just below her collarbone. It clung slightly to her curves, and was a couple centimetres from dragging on the ground. The shorter part of her hair framed her face, while the rest was tied back with a small length of lace, which mean he could see a bit of her shoulders. Oh my.

"Merlin! Hi, come in!" she said happily, seemingly oblivious to her state of undress.

"I- … T-the sword. For tomorrow. For the… t-the thing. Tomorrow." he managed to stutter out, blushing furiously and averting his eyes.

"Merlin? Are you ok? Is something wrong?" Hermione asked worriedly stepping closer to let the light shine on his face.

"Fine!" Merlin squeaked out, "I am. Fine, that is…"

"Then why are you so uncomfortable?"

Did she _really_ not know?

"Er… Y-you… forgot to put your robe on."

"Robe?" she asked, continuing to look confused, if not even more so.

"You're in your sleepwear."

"Oh. Sorry. I'll go get a robe. Come on in, don't stand there like a statue." She slinked back into the room, and made for a chair near her bed, which had the robe she had used that morning they had med in the kitchens draped over it. He followed behind, bumping into the door as he looked at the floor.

"This chemise is so long poofy and dress-like I thought it wouldn't be a big deal… Culture difference I suppose," she said as she tied the robe tightly around herself.

"Yes… Erm… here's your sword for tomorrow. Clean and shiny and sharp," he said, handing over the weapon.

"Thanks," she replied with a laugh, testing the weight of it. "Wow, this is a lot heavier than a rapier… then again, the whole make of it is completely different. How do you properly hold this thing?"

"I thought you said you knew how to use a sword?"

"I do! But the cross-guard I'm used to covers part of the hand, the sword has no pommel, and the grip has grooves, it's not this straight!"

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**A/N: ****Well, there's chapter 8! I took a bit longer to upload it due to its length. Sorry for the wait… and for those of you who celebrate Halloween on the 31rst of October… Happy Halloween! For those of you who celebrate Day of the Dead on November 2****nd****… Happy Day of the Dead! (Sounds weird, I know, but I wasn't the one who named the holiday…)**


	9. Horses and Unicorns

**A/N: Ha! Chapter 9! This one came to me surprisingly quickly. =) I hope you all enjoy the beginning of the adventures in the forest. ^_^**

**Disclaimer: **Well, I've said it quite a few times already, but just in case you missed the eight other times: I just own the plot, not the characters.

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The next morning was surprisingly chilly. As she was sure there would be horseback riding involved, as well as trudging through the forest, Hermione had insisted Gwen find her a pair of pants. After much arguing, the maidservant had given her a pair of brown pants, which were slightly baggy (as it was made for male use). After a lot of thought, Hermione had also decided to wear her school clothes instead of a borrowed dress – as beautiful as the dresses available were, in a forest any dress would only get in the way.

She wore her skirt over the pants (this way the men would only have a half heart attack at her choice of wardrobe), white button-up shirt loose from the skirt or pants, and her school robe. She had also pocketed her scarf and gloves in case she got cold. Underneath the shirt, she had buckled the belt which held her sword, as well a thinner, more delicate belt she used to carry her wand. It was better to be safe than sorry after all.

She made her way to the kitchens, grabbing a warm soft roll to eat on the way, and hurried to the castle's entrance hall. As she reached the top of the stairs, she noticed Merlin standing with his back to her, staring at the grand staircase.

Sneaking quietly, she stopped right behind him and asked, "Watcha doin'?"

With a strangled yelp Merlin jumped and whirled around to face her. "Hermione! How did you get there?"

"I walked. It's this nifty thing people do where they move their legs. Who were you waiting for?"

"You. Arthur told me to let you know the knights are getting things ready outside, and you need to pick your horse. Are you wearing _pants_?"

"You try walking in a forest in a skirt and then we'll talk."

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Hermione clung to the reign for all she was worth. Being a city girl in the 21rst century, she had ridden on a horse _once_. Well, a pony. When she was six. And her mum had pulled her around. Her only other experience from riding an animal had been Buckbeak, but she had just clung to Harry and prayed to live long enough to see another sunrise. And a thestral. But she'd tried to block that memory.

"Don't worry my lady. We won't let anything harm you," a knight said to her, as he trotted behind her.

"Thanks," she said, "but that's not why I'm nervous. It's just that I've never ridden a horse before."

Everyone turned and stared at her. Uh-oh. Had she said something wrong?

"Never ridden a horse before?" Arthur asked, looking amazed, "How did you get around if you never rode a horse?"

Oh. Right. Whoops. She'd forgotten horses were the only type of land transportation in this time, as common as cars back home. Think fast.

"W-well, I usually rode around in carriages, or on carts. When I rode on a horse, I was always sitting behind someone."

"Oh," the group murmured.

Apparently that was a reasonable explanation. Thank God. Feeling a chilly breeze sweep by, Hermione shivered. Holding the horse tightly with her legs, she held the reigns tightly in one hand, as she carefully reached for the gloves she had pocketed earlier. Pulling them out, she was unsure how to put them on.

Hermione looked around, realizing they must be getting close to their destination. They were already in a wide road (by medieval standards), which was closed by trees on either side.

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They had ridden for another fifteen minutes, before riding a small distance through a smaller road to a clearing, where they tied the horses. Three knights were to set up camp and watch the horses while the others hunted. Hermione was assigned to go with Arthur and Merlin's group, much to her relief. They had been trudging through the underbrush for a while, when Arthur stopped and motioned for silence. Looking around, trying to see what had caught the prince's attention, Hermione's eyes widened. In the middle of their path, a little ways ahead of them was a unicorn foal grazing by a patch of sunlight.

Small and graceful, it had a shiny pure gold fur, and she could see the beginnings of its white horn peeking out of its tiny forehead. It seemed to be alone, but as is the case with all babies, she was sure its mother couldn't be far. Looking at Arthur, she felt a chill as she realized he was about to shoot it.

"_Don't_!" she whispered harshly.

"What? It's a magical creature. We came here to hunt them remember?" he replied in a slightly annoyed tone.

"You said you wouldn't kill unicorns though. And I couldn't let you even if you were. _You don't mess with unicorns_. Unless you know _exactly_ what you're doing."

"Yes. But that's not a unicorn. Unicorns are pure white, with equally white horns, much longer than the one that creature has," he replied in a patient tone, as if explaining things to a small child.

"That's what _grown_ unicorns are like. This one's still a foal. When they're babies their fur is pure gold, and they're not born with a horn. Their fur turns silver as they grow, and the silver eventually fades into white then they've reached maturity," Hermione replied in the same tone of voice, irritated.

"A unicorn _foal_?" Arthur looked like he didn't quite know what to do with that possibility.

"What? How did you think they came into existence? Did you think they magically popped out of thin air, fully grown?" Hermione asked dryly.

"Well, they _are_ magical beings."

This was going to be a long day.

"Then we should probably just walk around it then?" One of the knights piped up, trying to be helpful.

"It's probably the safest bet," Merlin agreed.

"Not without it being distracted. Unicorn foals are kind of fidgety when it comes to men." Hermione said.

"Then how the Hell do you suppose we move forward?" Arthur asked.

"It may have escaped you notice your highness, but I'm not a man." Hermione brushed slowly past the monarch, before pausing and looking back. "Just wait 'til I give you the go-ahead."

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Merlin watched in amazement as Hermione slowly moved towards the foal, which had stopped munching away and had been watching them with curiosity. She was murmuring quietly and gently, unintelligible words in a comforting tone. The foal looked at her and, once she had some space between her and the men, slowly shuffled forward, clearly intrigued by the odd creature it had encountered.

It sniffed at her gloved hand, and poked at it with its muzzle. Hermione slowly turned her hand around and started gently petting the foal. It made a contented noise and, as Hermione moved slightly closer, rubbed its head against her hand, until she was scratching the spot behind its ear.

It closed its eyes, letting out a pleased sigh, and Hermione looked back, nodding them towards the trees to their right. The men moved quietly through the trees, careful to make as little noise as possible. When they were an equal distance from the foal as they had been before they returned to the small trail.

Hermione then smiled at the happy unicorn before saying gently, "Okay, little one, I have to go now… Bye bye."

She slowly circled around it, sliding her hand along its side. The foal looked at her sadly, obviously wanting her to keep petting. Hermione gave a soft laugh as she backed away towards the rest of the group, who stood open mouthed behind her.

"That… What…" Arthur blurted out, looking shocked beyond belief. "How did you know what to do?"

"I _told_ you. We're taught about magical creatures at Hogwarts. We learn about unicorns when we're fourteen. Or was it fifteen?"

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**A/N: ****The info on unicorn foals was mostly made up, though some of the info was borrowed from the Harry Potter books. (Remember during Care of Magical creatures, when they learned about unicorns?)**


	10. Sandwiches and Acromatulas

**A/N: Wow, this is the longest chapter I've written yet! Three pages as a Word document! XD They'll be returning to the forest again to do some hunting, so if anyone has a suggestion of what kinds of magical creatures they could meet, please let me know! :)**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own, so please don't sue, 'cause I won't have money to give to you.

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The rest of the morning was quiet. The biggest creature they had come across was a very fat squirrel that had quickly scurried away with an acorn when they had approached it, in a rather Scrat-like fashion. The group eventually came to a sun-filled clearing, with thick logs in a large circle. Arthur and the knights ensured all the weapons were in order, while Merlin gathered wood for the fire, and Hermione was quick to offer to set it up and get it started while he sorted out the food.

She made a teepee with the larger branches, leaning the smaller ones against them. Stuffing twigs and dry leaves inside the little construction, she wondered how to get the fire started without a lighter. Looking around quietly, she made sure everyone was intent on their task. Pulling out her wand, she whispered, "Incendio." Flames shot out of her wand, catching fire right in the middle of the teepee. She smoothly stuffed away her wand, just as she heard steps coming her way.

"Wow, you're really good with that! How did you get the flames to catch so quick?" Merlin exclaimed as he came closer, cold meat and some cheese under one arm, and a large loaf of bread under the other.

"Ah, well, it's a gift," Hermione said grinning. If only he knew.

"And just in time to heat up some food! Do we still have some of those longer sticks?"

"Right here," she said, handing him the bundle of large twigs.

Arthur and the knights came over, noting the food spread out. Merlin cut the meat into strips, spearing them on the sticks much like muggles would do with a hot dog over a campfire. Everyone heated their meat and began to eat the bread and cheese while the meat warmed up. Hermione however put her bit of meat on two slices of bread, adding a chunk of cheese. The others stared at her sandwich as if it had suddenly started talking.

"What are you doing?" Merlin asked.

"It's a sandwich. I'm guessing you've never seen one of these before?"

"Er, no," Arthur replied, giving the sandwich a funny look. "Hermione… earlier today, with the unicorn…"

"Yes?"

"I just wanted to thank you. Had I known it was a unicorn I would never have thought of killing it."

Hermione smiled. It was obvious it had taken him a lot of courage to say that, especially in front of his men. "You're welcome."

"Have you seen many magical creatures?" One of the knights curiously asked.

"Oh, yeah. A lot. Fought quite a few too."

"What kinds?" Another knight piped up, looking impressed.

"Lets see… I've encountered a mountain troll, grindylows, a werewolf, cornish pixies, nifflers, a basilisk, centaurs, kappas, unicorns, a baby dragon, gnomes... flobberworms… hipogryphs, thestrals, and the griffin we came across."

"Wow. You've seen more creatures than I even knew existed," Merlin said, a stunned look on his face.

"Oh, well now, that's not too hard to accomplish." Arthur replied with a mischievous grin, causing Merlin to throw a bit of bread at him.

"Well, some of them I just saw because there was a creature brought for us to see. Like the grindylows were kept in a tank, except when they were put in a pond for us to learn how to defend ourselves…" Hermione started babbling embarrassedly. It felt awkward enough for them to be so impressed by something which to her was so normal without the awed looks she was getting.

"Why do you learn so much about magical creatures?" Merlin asked curiously.

"It's best to know about the world around you instead of being caught unawares and getting oneself in a big mess. Can you imagine what could have happened had I not known about unicorn foals?"

Merlin and Arthur shivered.

"Good point."

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

After they had all eaten and put away their things, they returned to hunting. No other magical creature crossed their path. They had already turned back when Hermione caught sight of a filmy substance caught on the chain mail of the knight in front of her. Pulling it loose, she noticed it was very silky. Like web thread. From a very large web, by the looks of it.

"Arthur!" She stage whispered. If it was what she thought it was, the less noise they made the better. Arthur stopped, looking at her expectantly. She motioned for him to come closer.

"We have to get out of here. _Now_. Or at least get to an open space."

"Why?"

Hermione held up the bit of web.

"Because if I'm right, we wandered into acromantula territory. And they'll know we're here."

Arthur and the others looked confused.

"Don't we _want_ to find a magical creature?" Merlin said, voicing the other's thoughts.

"Not acromantulas. Acromantulas are giant incredibly poisonous spiders, which are rarely found alone. Even magic users avoid them."

No sooner had she said that, when she heard a click in the distance, to their left. Her fears confirmed, she instructed them to do the only sensible thing they could.

"Run."

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

The group immediately followed her lead, no longer questioning her authority when it came to these matters. If they could get to a clearing before the acromantula overtook them, as it surely would, they would have a better chance of all making it out alive. It would be harder to corner them and easier to move around. If necessary she could use her magic to repel or kill it, but that could only be the last resort…

Hermione ran as fast as she could, not slowing down and ignoring her muscle's complaints. Thankfully, the adrenaline seemed to have given everyone an extra boost as they tore through the forest. They were almost at a large clearing they had passed earlier when she heard loud repetitive clicking from just ahead of them. Immediately stopping and attempting to move away, Hermione tripped on a root and fell down, skinning her hand. As she scrambled to her feet, a large spider appeared in their path.

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It was huge, taller than a full grown male human, with serrated pincers that could easily crush a small tree. It had shiny black fur tinged with grey, brown stripes on its back, and eight beady black eyes as large as a fist. It made a series of loud excited clicks, and raised itself on three of its sets of legs, bending the front legs in a striking position.

"What have we here?" it hissed, "Humans? In this part of the forest? Now, why would you have strayed so far, I wonder? Are you lost little humans?"

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**A/N: I know Hermione didn't mention all the magical creatures she's met. But those she didn't mention were the ones that would be hard to explain ****about without giving away the fact she's magical (like Grawp, Hagrid's "little" brother, boggarts, or Dementors). Either that or I forgot them. Lol. Thank you so much everyone for the reviews! You have no idea what an encouragement it is to keep writing! (I feel so popular! ;-D)**

**A/N 2: I know I ended on a cliffie, but I just found out I'm having a surgery on Sunday, so I thought it best to give you guys something in case I'm not able to update before then as I'm not sure how long it will take for me to feel well enough to write – hopefully not long! :-) **


	11. Acromantulas and Scarves

**A/N: ****Sorry I took so long to update! Here's chapter 11…**

**Disclaimer**: I don't own, so don't sue. Rowling is God. Me just mischievously having fun.

* * *

"Please, we mean no harm. We didn't mean to cross your territory, and as soon as we realized we had we immediately turned back…" Merlin managed to squeak out, surprised beyond belief the beast could speak.

If it had lips Merlin was sure it would be sneering.

"No harm? You mean no harm yet you come into my territory with weapons and armor!"

"We were hunting wild game. Like wild boar and deer," Arthur explained, going along with Merlin's story.

"Do you think me a fool?" the spider roared, "I heard your planning! I know about you humans who live near my land! You seek to destroy magic, and all of those who do not despise it such as yourselves! I have tolerated this persecution, allowing you to breed and multiply and kill one another as you please! Now you come into my home seeking to harm my children and me?"

"You're right. We were seeking a magical creature," Hermione said calmly.

Everyone turned to her, the humans all giving her nervous looks. What was she doing?

"We are searching for a griffin that attacked our party a few days ago. It attacked without provocation and near our main city. We can't allow it to roam around. It's a danger to our young. I apologize for my men. Human males can be quite thick sometimes, and none of them have ever heard of acromantulas. They were just so startled that-"

"That is no excuse for lying," The spider growled, "But I admire your honesty little one. Which is why I shall give you a head start. You have forty seconds, then I will allow myself the pleasure of the hunt."

The spider moved off the path, and they all immediately broke into a run once more. The forest was silent, apart from their feet on the leaves and the ranches whipping at them. Clearly, the animals in this area all knew about the dangerous creatures that roamed this part of the forest. No one bothered to count, focusing all their energy on moving as fast as humanly possible. Soon, however, they could hear the rapid clicking of the spider behind them.

* * *

Hermione was terrified. If Harry and Ron had barely escaped with their lives from Aragog's lair with magic, what chance would the group have?

Arthur came to a sudden halt in front of her, when the spider jumped over the group, unsheathing his sword and lunging at one of the spider's legs. He missed it by a hair's breadth as the spider moved into an attack position.

Hermione was pushed over to the side by knights, who circled the spider by each of its legs. One of the knights attempted to strike one of the front paws, but only managed to get his leg ripped open, as one of the spider's retractable claws shot out at the knight and easily tore through the chain mail. At the same time, however, another knight attempted to attack the same leg. Missing another claw by sheer luck, he slashed at the leg, making the spider let out an anguished cry before slapping him away with another leg, a chunk of the leg he had attacked falling to the ground.

* * *

Merlin dragged Hermione to a clump of bushes by the side of the fight. He directed to a clump of bushes safely far from the fight, then turned to go back.

"Where are you going?" Hermione asked with a frown, grabbing his wrist.

"Back. To help."

"So why did we come here?" She looked confused.

"So you could hide."

Looking incredulous and very much determined, she scoffed at him before replying, "Oh, so you go and I stay? Fat chance! You go, I go."

"Hermione…" Merlin groaned. Of course she didn't know it, but she was just making things go from bad to worse. If he stayed with her behind the bushes she would most undoubtedly see him do magic. If he went with her out of the hiding place, he would have to worry about killing the spider _and_ making sure she didn't get killed….

In the midst of his self debate the spider gave an agonized howl and reared up, attempting to dislodge something, which he realized was the severed leg chunk, which was embedded deeply in its stomach. Rearing up however only made things worse, as the claw ripped its underside, spilling out blood and what Merlin assumed were spider entrails before thudding on the beaten earth with a soft squelch.

The spider shrieked loudly, and fell to the ground, spasming and twitching before, after what seemed to be a lifetime, growing still. Merlin felt Hermione tremble beside him, and he looked at her concernedly. Her face was pale and drawn, and she looked like she couldn't believe what had happened. Arthur stumbled out of the bushes he had dived into to avoid the spider's spastic kicks and warily made his way toward the injured knight.

"Sir Callais, are you very badly injured?" the prince asked him worriedly.

As if this was her cue, Hermione suddenly moved into action. She dodged errant twigs and bushes, making a beeline for Sir Callais, and Merlin hurried to catch up.

She proceeded to give orders in a brisk tone hardly stopping to draw breath, "We have to stop the bleeding. We'll need some cloth to bind the wound too. No splints, splints are bad, a doctor said that once on Animal Planet. Here, we can rip this up into shorter lengths."

Hermione pulled a long, bright scarlet and yellow scarf from somewhere within her cloak and measured it out before holding it towards Athur expectantly.

"My lady, there's no need. I can hardly ask you do destroy something so expensive!" Callais exclaimed.

"You're not," Hermione said simply, "I'm demanding. Now Arthur, if you don't want him to bleed to death, I suggest you cut the damn scarf so we can bind his leg up." She proceeded to tightly tie the strips to Callais' leg, causing the knight to yelp surprisedly.

"Oh, hush," she snapped at him, "It's not so bad."

* * *

**A/N: Tadaaaa! How was it? Good? Bad? **


	12. Women and Armour

**A/N: I truly do apologize for the delay – I saw the "Lady of the Lake" Series 2 episode of Merlin and the plot bunnies started coming and going every which way… After a serious chat with said rebellious plot bunnies I decided to make Hermione and Merlin find out about each other earlier than the original plan, hence a bit of difficulty with getting chapter 12 underway. Plus I wasn't home much lately****. :-P I basically only had time to write when babysitting my cousin, which meant squeezing in some writing between making him dinner, getting him juice, and hunting elusive cookies for him to munch on. ^_^ I hope the wait was worth it. :-)**

**Disclaimer:** Let's follow logic. If you write a story in a fanfiction site, do you own the series you use for your amusement? _No_. You're a fan with an overactive imagination. Hence, I do not own Merlin or Harry Potter. But I do own an overactive imagination. Nor do I own the allusion to pot roast and childbirth, that was borrowed from "Friends".

* * *

Sir Callais' wound had been tightly bound, and they had slowly made their way back to the waiting horses due to his injury. Hermione had grown more confident with her horse riding skills on their earlier ride, or at least confident enough to look around and talk to the other party members. She was riding slightly behind Merlin, which she supposed was a good thing – this way she could stare without getting caught. She was in the middle of a really nice daydream involving previously mentioned servant when Arthur trotted his horse over to Hermione, a frown on his face.

"What exactly did you think you were doing when you called us your men? You came on this middion under express orders not to put yourself in any danger. Not only did you do that, but you undermined and embarrassed us in front of an enemy."

"Acromantulas are a matriarchal society. You and your men are considered inferior to me in their eyes," Hermione answered patiently.

"Weaker?" Arthur scoffed, "we're men!"

"It's not so pleasant when the table's turned, is it?" Hermione replied dryly, secretly amused at the utter confusion and bewilderment that crossed his face.

"We're men! How could –"

"I'm aware you're men. I'm not blind. But just because your culture see men as better and women as second-class citizens doesn't mean all cultures do. You say men are strong and women are weak, yes? Do you think labour's a walk in the park then? Because it is very much similar to making you pass a pot roast through your nostril. Or being sold from one man to another, never being free to decide things for yourself."

Arthur blushed furiously to the mention of childbirth before sputtering, "But… Well… That is… We don't sell our women!"

"Oh, please," Hermione rolled her eyes, "The woman has the father's last name and then changes it to her husband's upon marriage, when he has full power over everything in her life, just as her father did before. We can't own land, or a house. You even referred to the female population of Camelot as 'our women'. Like they're your possessions."

Arthur sputered some more before Merlin called over his shoulder with an amused smirk, "Just give up, Arthur. She won't let up, and you can't win."

They took a bit more time on the way back due to the injured knight, and arrived just as the sun was going down. Hermione was beat, and, excusing herself after their arrival, went straight to bed. She had a long day ahead of her tomorrow.

* * *

She woke up in the morning from a deep sleep, refreshed and ready for the day ahead. As one of the knights had been injured the hunting was postponed, and the knights were to investigate those who were suspected to have dealings with magic users. Which meant Hermione was even more hard-pressed to find a safe place to do her magic than before.

She spent the day looking through all the nooks and crannies in the castle she could find, eventually deciding there was no good place other than her room. She was making her way back to the dining room for supper when she ran into Merlin.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" she cried as he dropped an armful of pieces of armor to the ground with a loud clang.

"Hermione!" he exclaimed before diving for the now scattered pieces of metal.

Hermione bent down to help him, ignoring his protests that he could get it.

"What were you doing in this part of the castle?"

"Oh, you know, just… exploring," Hermione mumbled nervously, "Here, let me help you take these. Division of labour and all that."

"Thanks. They're heavier than they look."

The two followed in silence for a bit, almost shoulder to shoulder, making Hermione slightly nervous in a tingly way. Like when she was in 5th grade and Matthew Tennant from 6th grade had given her a Valentine card.

Oh, this couldn't be good. He was history's most powerful and famous wizard. He lived in early medieval England. She was a witch from the 21rst century, who attended an ancient magic school that hadn't even been built yet. Hell, the Founders still wouldn't be born for at least another 200-and-some years, give or take. He could never be with her in her time, what with his destiny being here and now. And she was meant to help Harry destroy Voldemort in the future.

"…and available."

Blinking, Hermione realized Merlin had said something, and being so caught up in her thoughts she hadn't heard any of it. Whatever it was was probably important, because he was eyeing her closely, as if gauging her reaction.

"Hmm," She murmured appreciatively, hoping the reaction was the right one. Apparently it wasn't, as Merlin's countenance fell. Woops.

Had she said the wrong thing? She didn't have time to make amends however, as they had reached her room, and Merlin insisted he take the things from there. Reluctantly, she handed over the pieces of armor she held in her arms, and Merlin left after a stand offish goodbye.

Sighing, Hermione opened the door and went into her room to get ready for dinner.

* * *

**I know it's a bit short, but the next chapter's going to come pretty quick, as it's mostly already ****written down on paper. ^_^ RnR!**


	13. Fated Lovebirds and Foreign Princes

**A/N: Sorry about the long wait guys! I got back from Brazil and things got a bit crazy 'cause I had to apply for university. Now all that craziness is finally over (for a bit anyhow... :P) I've finally had time to focus on writing again! Here's the next chappie, longer than usual as an apology. :)**

**A/N 2: Mercia was, according to Wikipedia, "centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands". The names of the king and prince for the area aren't accurate, 'cause I liked the names I used better. ^^; **

**A/N 3: Cormac was that guy who was good looking but extremely annoying and arrogant that had a thing for Hermione in **_**Half-Blood Prince**_**, in case anyone's confused...**

**Disclaimer:** Sadly, I have yet to own the rights to Harry Potter or Merlin. Don't sue.

* * *

Hermione made for her room, changing into a dark blue velvet gown, and adorned her hair with the bronze circlet she'd worn her first night in the middle ages. She hoped to find Merlin before dinner and smooth out whatever she'd said wrong. The longer she took, the harder it would get. Sighing, she gave herself a once-over on the mirror and made her way to the dining hall.

The corridors were quiet. Most of the day chores were already done. As she was about to turn the corner, she heard a quiet murmur of voices. Whoever was talking clearly didn't want to be caught. Sneaking a look from the corner of the wall, she was greeted by a sight that made her smile.

Arthur and Gwen were talking quietly in the shadows, hunched together and eyes only for each other. At least part of the myth was right.

"Erm, what are you doing?" a voice whispered behind her.

Heart at her throat, Hermione whirled around, hissing quietly.

"Merlin! Don't _do_ that! I almost had a heart attack!"

"Sorry," he replied, not looking sorry at all, a soft grin on his lips, "What _were_ you doing though?"

Grinning, Hermione motioned for Merlin to move closer. He slipped in front of her and peeked over the side just as she had been doing when he found her, jumping lightly when he felt her lean over him to watch the two lovebirds.

* * *

Hermione was completely focused on the scene before her instead of who she was leaning against. She didn't feel the warmth of his back or feel her heartbeat increase. And she most definitely did _not_ blush. She hoped.

"About time, eh?" she managed to say.

"About- You knew they-"Merlin squawked surprised, turning around swiftly.

"Well..."

* * *

"Ah! Merlin! There you are. You forgot your hat for today's feast by the cauldron again," Gaius called out from the end of the hallway they had been hiding in. The two jumped away from each other as though they'd been burned. (Or perhaps electrocuted if electricity had been invented already). Their faces guilty like a kid with their hand caught in the cookie jar.

"Erm, thanks Gaius," Merlin said as he reluctantly accepted the offered accessory. It was an atrocious squashy looking thing, bright scarlet with a giant feather hanging down. It was then Hermione realised Merlin was not using his usual garb of blue shirt and red neck bandana, but rather a scarlet tunic and dark red pants.

Poor Merlin had a look on his face that distinctly reminded her of Ron when he first saw his dress robes for the Yule ball.

"You two might want to hurry up. It wouldn't be good to be late for tonight's feast," the court physician said calmly, eyeing the two with the universal knowing parental look of 'I know you're up to something' that has frightened and embarrassed the younger generations since the dawn of time.

Though she knew the older man had the wrong idea, Hermione wasn't about to correct him, in case he was unaware of the blooming romance between Arthur and Gwen. Unlikely, but hey, it could happen.

"Right. Feast. Shall we?" Hermione managed to sputter before rounding the corner, feeling slightly relieved to find Gwen and Arthur gone.

The three made their way in awkward silence to the dining hall, arriving at the same time as King Uther. He in turn was followed by two nobles, both dressed in emerald green tunics, forest green pants, and silver arm bands with decorative Celtic designs engraved on them.

"Ah, Lady Hermione! May I introduce King Ardley of Mercia and his son, Prince Markl. This is the young woman I mentioned earlier," Uther said with bright smile on his face, motioning for Hermione to join them as they went to supper.

King Ardley seemed to be around the same age as Uther. He had dark brown hair that went til just under his ears, and dark grey eyes. His son in turn had jet black hair that curled slightly over his ears and light hazel eyes, that were more yellow than brown. His eyes reminded Hermione of a hawk, clever and calculating, eager to strike down its prey. His demeanour in turn brought Cormac to mind. She let out an internal groan at being stuck with another pompous jock for heaven knows how long. Outwardly, she smiled and greeted them politely.

Much to Hermione's dismay, her first impression of the visiting prince was indeed correct.

* * *

The dinner seemed to be going at n excruciatingly slow pace. _Dear God, if this went any slower, we'd be going backwards…_ Hermione mentally mumbled to herself as prince Markl described a recent hunt he had gone on with his knights.

"So, Lord Markl, what brings you to Camelot? Hermione asked in an attempt to change the subject.

"We had come to warn Camelot of possible magical threat."

"Oh?" she replied nonchalantly.

"We have had strange and vicious attacks in Mercia as of late, and we have reason to believe the sorcerers responsible are headed this way, if they are not already here."

"How do you know the deaths were caused by magic?"

"Milady, I'm not sure this is a topic appropriate for females. I fear of hurting young sensibilities –"

"I have likely seen more violence since I was a child than you have seen in your whole life, Lord Markl. A psychotic murderous lunatic with magical powers tends to harden one's "sensibilities"," Hermione ground out, fighting the urge to snap at him as she would a 21rst century annoying prat with everything she had.

"Ah, yes, quite…" Markl managed to answer, looking startled at her decisiveness. "Well, erm, firstly, all of the victims were unmarked in any way… and they all had a look of horror on their face…"

"And secondly?"

"The buildings they were found in were all destroyed… with a mark above it."

"A mark? What sort of mark?"

"A skull and snake."

* * *

**A/N: Again, sorry for taking so long for the update! Review, and tell me what you think! (I'm not very happy with this chapter for some reason… :P)**


	14. Foreign Princes and Fated Lovebirds

**A/N: I've never done a scene twice through different povs before, so please let me know what you think and what I can do to make it better. :-) I thought it was important to show what Merlin was thinking through the scene so... Yeah... anywhoo...**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter nor BBC's Merlin. If I did, I'd be rich. I ain't. :P

**WARNING** – Some Spoilers for BBC's Merlin series 2 episode 9, "The Lady of the Lake". Just so's you're aware....

* * *

The moment Merlin saw Hermione hiding behind the wall he felt his heart beat faster. Whether it was from his worry over whatever trouble she was cooking up now or how beautiful she looked he didn't know. She wore the dark velvet dress Morgana had lent her on her first night at Camelot. Its darkness emphasized her pale skin, the bronze in it highlighting her hair.

She looked like a princess.

The thought immediately sobered him up. He's a pasty, clumsy manservant from a small village with no account. She's the beautiful daughter of a Duke from a grand faraway land filled with fantastic things. The thought brought him back to earth with a painful thud. Ignoring the slow burn that started in the pit of his stomach he sneaked right behind her, knowing she was too concentrated to realise what he was doing or that he was even there.

"Erm, what are you doing?" he whispered softly, laughing inwardly at the startled look she gave him.

"Merlin! Don't _do_ that! I almost had a heart attack!" she hissed quietly at him, face flushing gently. Whether with anger or embarrassment at being caught he wasn't sure.

"Sorry."

He wasn't, really.

"What _were_ you doing though?"

She motioned for him to come closer. He did. Sliding behind her he slowly stuck his head over the side. Arthur and Gwen were talking softly to each other. Arthur said something that made Gwen blush. Merlin was only half aware of it. In order to see around the corner he had to lean over Hermione. She jumped slightly, and he realised how close they were. She didn't object though.

After a few seconds of watching Hermione whispered to him.

"About time, eh?"

His brain registered what she said and he felt rather dumb folded. She _knew_ Arthur and Gwen were in love? Was it that obvious? Who else knew? Did _Uther_ – no. If he knew he most definitely would not allow it. How had she known? Apart from himself, Morgana and Gaius he had been sure the secret was unknown... He stuttered out something, too many questions keeping him from finishing a sentence properly.

Before she really had a chance to reply however, Gaius interrupted. Right. The hat. He'd hoped the stupid thing would have just caught on fire or been pushed behind something so he'd have an excuse – er, _reason_ – for not wearing the ghastly accessory. He embarrassedly accepted the hat, mumbling thanks he didn't really mean and feeling highly uncomfortable at his uncle's pointed look.

* * *

The moment they arrived at the dinner hall Merlin felt himself become invisible. The king began introducing Hermione to the other royal guests and he knew he had melted to insignificance. Servants were not actually meant to be seen unless their masters required something. With a quick look back at Hermione, who was smiling sweetly at the foreign prince, he made his way to his usual spot during meal times.

* * *

Merlin watched Hermione all throughout supper. She was seated between Morgana and the visiting prince who, Merlin noted, was paying her just a bit too much attention for his liking. But as far as he could tell she didn't think so. She smiled and nodded as Markl droned on and on. Well, he supposed a handsome rich prince would always be a better catch over a poor servant. Even if the prince's conversation _was_ dry as toast.

Funny. Merlin had never seen his place in life as negative before.

Then again he'd never wanted to impress a girl before, apart from Freya. But the Druid girl was a fugitive who had been kept in a cage and starved for heaven knows how long before he'd helped her escape. He always knew where he stood with her, even after he'd found out about her curse. With Hermione on the other hand...

Sighing, Merlin moved forward, filling up Arthur's goblet again.

Then she'd asked why Markl had come to Camelot. Merlin almost dropped the pitcher he was holding when he heard the reply. Keeping his composure as best he could, he watched Hermione carefully, wondering how she actually felt about magic. They'd never touched on the subject before. Merlin avoided it, thinking it might be painful for her, and half afraid of finding out how she felt about it. If she hated and feared it (not that he would blame her after her ordeal), there was no chance whatsoever for them, was there? If there was any to begin with.

Merlin felt a twinge of hope when she approached the matter with a logical clear head, feeling a definite sense of satisfaction when Hermione chewed out the prince for treating her like some dainty brainless wallflower. He should have known better, really.

When Markl explained their reasoning for believing magic was involved in the murders in his kingdom Hermione simply stared at the prince, looking pale and dumb folded. After a pause she suddenly got up, almost overturning her chair (quite a feat, considering how heavy those things were).

"I- I'm sorry. I don't feel all that well. Excuse me," she said in a quiet strangled voice, hiked up her skirt, and ran out of the room before anyone could say a thing about it.

Merlin wasn't quite sure what to make of her reaction. Nor, apparently was anyone else, if their expressions were any indication.

"Merlin, go after her," Morgana ordered him, looking worried.

Merlin thrust the pitcher to the closest servant and ran after Hermione, who was just turning the corner. She ran incredibly fast, and he was wheezing out for breath by the time she slowed down and hid in one of the castle's many small alcoves. Merlin approached it slowly, not knowing how she would take his presence there. She'd clearly wanted to be alone. Upon getting closer he heard a choked sob coming from where she was.

She was curled up on a bench, knees pulled up to her chest, head dropped on her knees.

"Hermione? What's wrong?" was all he could think to ask.

* * *

**A/N: So? How did I do? I really **_**would**_** like to know what you guys think I could improve, so don't be afraid to tell me what you thought was weak or could have been better if I'd done this and that... Or telling me what you like about it either. ;) Next chapter should be up soon, I'm trying to train myself to make the chapters longer so I apologise if they're taking a bit longer than usual... **


	15. Freaking Out and 'Fessing Up

**A/N: I sincerely apologize for the delay. If you've read the comment in **_**Every Second Counts**_** you know why it took me so long. If not, the reason is we had this freak blizzard that ended up screwing with my internet connection... And by blizzard I mean like utterly psycho weather. the tree in my backyard was doing its own version of "how low can you go?", and even though I turned on the heater in my room to muffle out the whistling sounds of the wind you could still hear it. :P I kept getting annoyed at the chapter as I wrote it, and needing to change this and that. I'm still not happy with it, but I hope you guys like it. :) Let me know what you think. ^^; Let's see how many of you can understand Hermione's private joke. :)**

**Disclaimer: **Never say never. But the likelyhood of my ever owning either Harry Potter and/or BBCs Merlin is about whatever number comes just before zero.

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Hermione felt her stomach drop. Barely able to think she heard someone say something. Maybe it was her. All she could think of was she needed to get away. Gathering up the long skirts she ran form the room.

Where didn't matter.

She could feel the blood pounding in her ears and all but taste the adrenaline. It was like she could feel it cursing through her veins. She didn't feel her legs, or notice where she was going. The need to move made her blind to anything but the placing of her legs one in front of the other.

And all af a sudden that need was gone.

Legs aching with complaint she had to find someplace to sit down, lest she collapse out in the open. Seeing a semi hidden alcove she slipped inside the glorified closet, thanking whatever deiety might be listening for the medieval custom of having the odd little rooms. Part of the stone jutted out of one of the walls, a makeshift bench, and she crumpled down, curling within herself. Thoughts swirled around her head, one right after the other, not giving her time to focus of one before another would take its place.

Was this some freakishly big coincidence? What should she do? How could she even find out if the wizards and witches responsible for the deaths where the symbol was found were Death Eaters or some sort of predecessors to Voldemort, from where he had gotten the inspiration for the dreaded Dark Mark? What could she even do with that information, either way?

And then she found herself sobbing.

All the fear and confusion and stress she hadn't allowed herself to focus on since the day she had embarrassingly broken down in the kitchens washed over her her, the final chink in the armor she had carefully built against herself.

She heard a voice speak softly to her, the turmoil inside keeping her from distinguishing who. But then again, on later reflection, Hermione supposed the 'who' at the moment didn't matter. She'd worn herself out by trying to stand alone, and any comfort from an understanding shoulder to cry on was enough. Clinging to her simpathiser she cried out her worries and fears. It was only once she'd eventually calmed down that Hermione realised she was nce again clinging embarrasingly to Merlin. _Funny how often that's happening_, a little voice in her head (which sounded _far_ too pleased for its own good) pointed out to her. Hermione sniffled and rubbed her eyes, attempting to look somewhat decent.

"Er... sorry. Again, I suppose," she mumbled, looking at her hands.

"D'you wanna talk about it?" Merlin asked tentatively.

"No. Yes. No. Well, I.... It's complicated. The- Voldemort- his symbol – the Dark Mark, that is, is a snake coming out of a skull. I think it might have to do with him being the Heir of Slytherin, or his being a parselmouth... Or both, since they both had the same gift..." Hermione found herself rambling.

"Parselmouth?"

"Someone who can talk to snakes."

"Oh."

"I lied, you know."

"About what?"

"About how I came here," Hermione couldn't seem to look at him, so she started picking at an imaginary loose thread in her dress instead.

"Why?"

"Because. I... Well, one minute I was in the school library, and then I was in the forest. And I didn't want to come out and tell my whole life story without knowing I should. 'Constant vigilance' and all that I suppose," she replied, chuclikng softly and her own inside joke.

"You mean you were somehow transported here? By magic, you mean?" Merlin asked, looking at her with a shocked wide eyed look.

"Yes?" she replied uncertainly, feeling slightly wary.

"Was it this... Voldemort? Or someone who works for him?"

"A Death Eater? I highly doubt it... It's far more likely to be just one of those objects that think for themselves trying to be funny. It _is_ Hogwarts after all. I wouldn't be surprised."

Merlin looked like he wasn't sure wether to be confused or shocked.

"Huh?"

"Ah, well, you see, Hogwarts is full of... Oh, bloody hell. I- I'm... I'm... a witch. There. I've said it."

"Eh?"

"A witch, sorceress, enchantress, what have you. I'm only telling you 'cause I've apparently had a bit of a breakdown, and you're the only one I can trust if things are anything like I think they are," uncertainty suddenly gripped her, "you _are_ a wizard, aren't you?"

"I- You- That is- How- How did you know? What d'you mean you're a witch?"

"It's hard to explain... And I mean I can do magic," Hermione said softly, begining to get amused at Merlin's reaction.

Apparently realisation finally hit the young warlock. A grin slowly grewon his face.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I couldn't be sure I was right... and what with the way us magic folk are treated around here, can you blame me?"

"I suppose not. What kinds of things can you do?"

Hermione laughed at that. Ah, education really was diferent way back when...

"All sorts. What d'you wanna see?"

"Something. Anything," Merlin replied excitedly. He had the same mischevous look Fred and George got whenever they were about to do something they shouldn't.

Pulling out her wand, Hermione looked at it thoughtfully, trying to think of what spell to do. What spell could possibly be surpring to the most famous wizard in history?

"Expecto Patronum."

Her otter gracefully slid out of her wand tip, checking for danger. Not finding any, it curiously circled Merlin before happily turning over on its back, bobbing gently as if riding gentle waves in a pond, tail twitching.

Merlin looked at the ghostly otter in undisguised awe.

"What is it?"

"A patronus. It protects their caster from dark creatures called Dementors. Well, they can protect you against a bunch of other things too, but Dementors are what they're most adept at repelling. Each witch or wizard's patronus is unique to their caster."

Merlin opened his mouth to say something, but a thump noise cut him off before he could even begin. The otter immediately dissipated like smoke, leaving the alcolve in relative darkness.

"Maybe we should talk somewhere more private. I'm not very eager to join the Headless Hunt. Plus, I think Nick would resent me if I went back... home... headless. Salt on the wound, if you will."

Melin clearly had completely no idea what she was talking about, but swiftly agreed to the precariousness of their location.

"Perhaps you should tell them the talk about wizard attacks brought back memories and I was too distressed to go back. I'm sure Prince What's-His-Face'll believe it. You can bring me some food later and we'll talk then."

"Prince What's-His-Face?" Merlin asked, looking a mix of amused and giddy.

"The annoying one. Mike, Mark, whatever."

Merlin gave a light happy laugh, which sounded strangely relieved to Hermione.

"I'll come by after my duties are done for the day," he replied with a happy grin.

~~`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-OoO`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`~~

**A/N: Again, I deeply and truly apologize for the wait. You guys are awesome for being so patient with me. You're the best readers ever, thank you. ^^**

**I'll be frank and admit, I'm not all that sure what those two should talk about next chapter... So ideas are very welcome. (Could I be more subtle? lol) **

**Also, if anyone knows of any good HP/Merlin stories, or stories of Hermione time-travelling/dimension jumping, feel free to share – it's one of the est sources of inspiration for me, so... ;) **


	16. Witches and Dark Marks

**A/N: OMFG guys! **_**160**_** reviews! O.O I feel so incredibly popular right now. You guys have no idea how happy I got when I realised I had so many reviews! ****Thank you everyone! :D Merci! Obrigada! Danke! Gracias! Shukran! Grazie! ****Têniki! Mutna! Arigato! Nandi! ****Salamat po! **

**A/N 2: The spell used by Merlin is Old English for "fire come to me with grace". I used a translator, so if anyone recognises that its wrong in some way please do let me know. :-) Thank you everyone for the lovely reviews! It really helped encourage me to fight through my writer's block and go back to better quality chapters. Let's hope you enjoy it. ^^;**

**Disclaimer**: I _still_ do not own Harry Potter or BBC's Merlin. I know. Shocking.

-~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~-

Hermioone spent the rest of the day in her room thinking over how she should explain her situation to Merlin. Morgana and Gwen had come a while ago to see wether Hermione was feeling better. She'd assured the girls she was just feeling much improved, and that they shouldn't worry. She was brought out of her thoughts by a soft knock at the door.

"Come in," she called, rushing to the door to open it. Merlin stood on the other side, a platter of assorted foods in his hands.

"I didn't know what you'd want, so I thought a bit of everything was the best way to go," he said with a grin, setting the platter down on Hermione's night table.

"Thanks," she replied.

An awkward silence followed.

"Why me?"

"What?" Hermione relied, frowning softly as she tried to understand the quietly uttered question.

"Why did you decide to tell _me_? That you're… you know."

Oh.

Crap.

"I –What? I don`t… What?" she sputtered nervously. Of all the questions she had expected that was definitely not one of them.

What was she supposed to say? 'Oh, well, you see Merlin, I'm from the future. The far, far future. I go to this school for witches and wizards - I'm not all that sure where it is exactly, we're not really supposed to know – and I was looking through books in the library when one of them decided for some reason that sending me here was a good idea. Oh, I knew about Arthur and Gwen the same way I know you're a wizard: you're legendary. Stuff of myths. Purebloods kinda think you're a god. That's all.' Yeah. right.

Merlin raised an eybrow, looking amused.

"I didn't mean for it to be such a hard question. How about we try another one? How long have you learned magic?"

"Since I was eleven. Though technically that was when I was first taught how to control it. I could always do it, just... not... in a controlled manner."

Merlin perked up at this.

"You were born being able to do magic? You didn't learn it from someone?"

"Of course not," Hermione replied feeling slightly confused, "You either have the gift to do it or you don't, it's not something that you can learn. Unless its muggle magic. But that's illusion, not real magic."

"I'm the only one apart from you I've met that was born being able to do magic without being taught."

"You're a _wizard_?" Hermione balked at him, hoping she was good enough to pull this off.

Merlin grinned at her and looked at the fireplace.

"Æledfýr cumaþ æt mec samod ár," he said. Three small whisps of fire gently floated away from inside the burning flameand began to bob gracefully around them, slowly turning in a watched the whisps of flame dance around her, raising a hand close enough to feel the heat by her fingers.

"Oh, now, that's just _wicked_," she breathed out.

"It's nothing compared to what you did earlier, but..."

"Pft! Anyone past fith year can do that! This is way cooler!"

"Cooler? How can fire make you cold?" he asked, frowning slightly in confusion.

Hermione laughed in surprise, "No... I mean it's amazing. It means amazing."

"Ah..." Merlin replied. Then, "Was any of what you said true? About the wizard, and how he's taking over your kingdom?"

That sobered her up.

"Yes. (Sort of). It's complicated. But there _is_ a wizard – a dark wizard – named Voldemort. And he and his followers _are_ indeed trying to take over... where I come from. They're not after me specifically that I know of, but I'm definitely somewhere on their Wanted list. And I think they're here, somehow. Or will be soon. The symbol that the prince described sounded exactly like the Dark Mark. They put it over a place where someone's been murdered by Voldemort or his Death Eater cronies. I have to find out if it really was them, 'cause if they came from the same place I did, then it's my responsibility to stop them."

"Alright," Merlin agreed, "So what are we gonna do?"

"We?"

Merlin looked halfway between amused and affronted. "Of course. Or, as you'd say... duh."

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**A/N: So... Yeah. I'm thinkin' hard on how they could confirm who the spell-casters are... Any suggestions? :) **


	17. Dreams and Shirts

**A/N: Sorry for the mega long wait guys – I had some *ahem* family things, and then my mom and I moved, and we won't be getting internet til at **_**least**_** the 15****th****... :P *dies a little inside*. I'm updating from a nearby cafe that goes by the name of "The Carrot" (awesome name, right? ;D). I'll try to update asap but I can't know when that'll be just yet. Sorry.**

**A/N 2: This is totally unrelated to the story, but... Is anyone else not able to edit their profile page? Mine used to change its format by itself, but now it won't even let me add/delete stuff from it... :P**

**Disclaimer**: No, Harry Potter is _still_ not mine. Nor is Merling. Shocking, I know.

_Hermione was back at Hogwarts. _

_Sitting by her usual study tree, trying to study for a Herbology exam but not really suceeding. Neville was supposed to be helping her with this... Where the bloody hell was he? He'd better have a damn good reason for making her wait here for over an hour or Ginny's infamous Bat Bogey Hex would seem like a walk in the park. _

_There was something she had forgotten that took over priority though._

_Something she knew, but had forgotten. _

_Then the books around her were no longer herbology, but texbooks on advanced dark arts. Startled, she dropped the volume she was holding. She scrambled away from the tree's shade. She thought it was protecting her from the heat of the sun, but it wasn't right. It shouldn't be so cold underneath it, and the shadow shouldn't have been so dark. And why were no birds singing? _

_There was no noise at all. _

_No sound._

_In spite of the beautiful day she was the only living creature as far as the eye could see. _

_She turned back to look at the tree to find there _was_ in fact someone with her. Though being alone would have been much, much better. She backed away slowly, her feet moving as if through molasses. Her wand was nowhere in sight and a Death Eater was coming towards her. His mask was in fact his face, and he smirked at her like a cat who knew he had his prey. She frantically tried to move away only to find the harder she tried the slower she moved. _

_The shade began to morph into a skull, a huge snake coming out of it's mouth. Horrified she realised all three were coming for her and there was no way to do absolutely anything because now while she could move she wasn't going anywhere and – _

Hermione woke up gasping, sweaty, and trembling. She noticed the fire had gotten low, now only having the effect of a medieval night-light. Not worried about getting caught at the moment she enchanted the fire to a roaring blaze, making sure no corner of the room was left without light. She curled into a ball, arms hugging her knees and wand clutched tightly in white knuckled hands.

As soon as it was a decent time in the morning (from what she could tell, anyway) she jumped from the bed, grabbed the dress from the prevoius night (which she'd left lying on the back of a chair before collapsing into bed) and put it on the best she could without the help of a maid. It covered far more than most 21rst century clothing, but she slipped on a robe to cover the somewhat untied back. She didn't want to embarass or horrify anyone's medieval sensibilitues, after all. She slipped her hand into the robe pocket, where she held the wand for comfort.

Hermione slowly opened her room door and cautiously poked her head out. Ensured the coast was clear, she snuck out into the hallway and made her way to the servant's quarters.

She turned into the hallway where the physician's quarter's were located to find Gaius coming out them.

"Hermione! What brings you here so early in the morning? You're usually not around for another couple of hours. Either that or Merlin's overslept even more than usually," the elderly man greeted her.

Hermione laughed softly before replying, "I had another nightmare. I was wondering if you could make me something that I could take in case I have another one. So I don't have them anymore. I hear you've made something similar for Morgana in the past."

"Of course my dear. Why don't you go in and make yourself comfortable. I just have to go to the kitchen for a moment. We seem to have run out of bread. I'll be back in a moment.

Hermione nodded in acquiescence and went inside. The fire was already burning cheerfully, and the kettle was already full, waiting to be put over to boil. The table held two dented and tin plates, two equally worn cups, and a partly eaten slab of cheese. She sat down on one of the chairs and watched the fire dance in place, entranced by the gentle swishing and crackling. She heard a door open and turned around in her seat.

"Wow that was fa-" she started before realising it wasn't Gaius who'd opened the front door. It was Merlin who'd opened his bedroom door. And was now staring at her with his mouth slightly open in surprise.

And no shirt on.

Oh my.

All of a sudden Merlin seemed to realise the same thing. He mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "I'll just go and, er... yeah", and ran back into his room, slamming the door shut.

Hermione stood there, unsure of what to do. Before she could decide on a course of action however, he came back out , haphazardly attempting to pull his head through the proper hole but not making much progress.

She made her way over to him as he started to panic when he couldn't find the proper shirt hole.

"Here, you're doing it wrong," she murmured amusedly. Hermione pulled his shirt into the right position and his head popped out of the shirt hole.

**A/N: Sooooo... Yeah. Please Review. :)**


	18. Potions and Taboos

In a Time of Magic

Chapter 18 – Potions and Taboos

**A/N: I'd like to thank Mrs. Merlin for her brilliant, wonderful idea. The credit to Hermione's expanation on how the Death Eaters have found a way to the past is all hers. :) Also, happy belated birthday to Gelasia-kitty!** **I'm sorry it's slightly more belated then you hoped, but Telus has decided on making our life a living hell and keeps changing the date and information on when the internet'll be installed. I'm seriously considering just moving to Shaw and being done with it. :P**

**Disclaimer**: No, I do not own Merlin or Harry Potter. I give all ownership credits the their creators: J.K. Rowling and... Merlin's creators. Whoever they are.

"Uh, thanks," Merlin mumbled as his head popped out from his shirt, looking embarassed over his clumsiness.

"No problem."

"You here to see Gaius?"

"Er, yes. And no. Well, I came over to talk to you about... you know. And I ran into Gaius so I figured I'd ask for a Sleeping Potion since I was already here."

"Are you having nightmares?" He asked with a frown.

"Sort of. It was actually what I wanted to talk to you about. I had this dream and... Well, it reminded me of something. You know how I told you about the Death Mark?"

Merlin nodded slowly, unsure of what she was getting at.

"Well, back home, the dark wizard whom the simbol represents is so feared by everyone very few people dare speak his name, you see. Recently we found out he's cast this spell, called a Taboo Spell. If anyone is brave enough to speak his name, he knows. And his Death Eaters are immediately sent to kill the opposition. And I've said You-Know-Who's name since coming here. Maybe, since I'm from the same place as him the spell stll stands."

"And that's why these... Death Eaters are headed in this direction?"

"That's the only theory I have on how they could have gotten here. I mean, they couldn't have come the same way as _I_ did – they can't enter Hogwarts. And even if they _could_, the chances of them doing things the same way I did are extremely -"

"Ah! Merlin! You're up! What a miracle. Usually I have to all but drag you out of bed, kicking and screaming. Hermione, I'll get started on your potion right away, if you'd like to assit me I'll be glad of the company," Gaius happily chatted as he entered the room, unaware of his interruption.

"Thank you Gaius, I'd be happy to," Hermione replied with a smile, giving Merlin a '_We'll talk more later_' look when the physician's back was turned.

**A/N: Rather short, I know, but I felt bad for disappearing for so long... so I thought it'd be best to give you guys a quick chappie then leaving you all in the lurch... again. :P**


	19. Author Note of Shame, or Apology

I hate it when authors post author notes as chapters. However, as my profile is not allowing me to add or remove stuff from it and I have yet to get a reply from the site coordinators on what the friggin' hell is up, this is my only way of communicating with you guys.

I feel you all deserve an apology and an explanation as to why I've done a houdini on you.

I've been kind of going crazy with homework since I started university, and haven't had much time to write anything other then homework assignments.

I _will_ however resume working on it as soon as my last midterm for the semester (which is tomorrow... ^^;;) and my first university English essay is handed in (on Thursday. only tomorrow to work on it... You'd think the 3 straight hours today would have finished it all... ^^;;;;;;).

I will try to get some writing done this weekend, though it'll mostly depend on wether there's lots of people craving coffee that day or not. It's usually pretty quiet, so here's to hoping. :P

My goal is to pop out a chapter for you lovely patient people by the 11th at the latest. As I have no school that day (three cheers for Rememberance Day! :D) I'm pretty sure I can reach that goal...

Well, off to study for my German Chapter Test... which I may very well fail... T.T

Again, sorry for the long wait guys.

PaddySnuffles


	20. Hairy Hearts and Homing Spells

**A/N: Yes. I know. I'm a terrible person for disappearing for so long. However, my university education had to come before fanfiction (I'd switch that up if I didn't need to keep my damn GPA up). :P I do honestly apologize for the disappearance, but you know how life can get. ^.^;;;; **

**Oh, and btw, happy Victoria Day everyone. :)**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Harry Potter, or Merlin, nor do I make any money from this. Sadly.

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Hermione felt slightly better now she'd shared her theory with Merlin, even if she couldn't explain the whole story. It certainly couldn't hurt to have the most powerful wizard who ever lived on her side. At least that's what she told herself was the reason for her telling him so much. Now she had another (rather large) piece of the puzzle on how to get to and from her own time the wheels in her head had begun to turn on how to solve her predicament.

She had to find a way to get both herself and however many Death Eaters had found their way to the past back to the future, where they belonged. Time is something anyone with a shred of sensibility, muggle or magical, should know it is not something to tamper with (her Third Year time travelling adventure with Harry aside). As much as she'd come to love Camelot and its quirky inhabitants, she didn't belong.

She smiled and chatted with Gaius as he explained the properties of the Sleeping Draught he was prescribing for her, being sure to listen to what the physician was saying. She then claimed fatigue and borrowed a few books whose titles seemed promising.

The day was perfect – blue skies, fluffy clouds, and warm enough to be hot but not overly so. She decided to do some reading on a mini clearing she had seen in the palace gardens . it was surrounded by bushes and a tree provided a comfortable shade. Hermione set the books down and sorted them in order of which might be most helpful. She was a quarter-way through _An Extensive Studie of the Functions and Properties of Time_ when a shadow blocked her light. Looking up with a frown she inwardly frowned even deeper when she saw who cast it.

"Lady Hermione! What a nice surprise," Prince Markl of Mercia said a low gravelly tone he probably though was dark and sexy. (It wasn't.)

"Prince Markl. How... lovely to see you."

"I was just out for a stroll, perhaps you'd like to join me?" he asked, holding out his arm to her.

"Erm... Well, I was a bit busy reading-"

"Oh, I can carry your books for you, it's no trouble. However did you even get them here anyhow?" Markl asked as he picked up the books, changing the meticulosly planned order.

"What d'you mean how I got them here?"

"Well, these are far too heavy for a lady to carry. Did you get a servant to carry them out for you?"

Hermione ground her teeth.

"No. I used the muscles in my arms to lift them up, and my legs to take me and the books here."

Her snarky comment was lost to him as he read the titles of some of the books.

"_Modern_ _Magycks of the 10__th__ Century_? Why-ever are you bothering with reading _that_?" Markl asked, a confused frown on his face.

Hermione's heart stopped for a second of panic.

"It's better to know your enemy than to go in unprepared," she replied as she grabbed the book from his hands, glad of her extensive training in making up excuses on the spot to cover for her friends.

"Ah. I suppose so..." Markl was quiet for a few seconds, seeming to consider whether or not to say whatever was on his mind. Eventually he turned to her with a serious expression.

"Lady Hermione, I am truly sorry for what has happened to you and your family. I too have lost a loved one to the plague that are magic wielders," Hermione's surprised expression seemed to give him the necessary courage to continue.

"My sister was courted by a man a few years ago while she visited some of our kinfolk. We thought him to be an honest man whom had captured her heart through honest means and accepted the match. During a feast to celebrate the union they both disappeared for hours. We will never know what happened, but when we found my sister she lay dead on the ground, her breast torn open even though no knife had been used. The warlock had removed her heart through magical means, for what can only have been some devil-worshipping rite... My father, consumed with grief, slay him where he stood. So you see, I am no stranger to the damage magic does to good people. I swear to you Lady Granger, that I will do everything in my power to help you repel this evil from your life," Markl concluded earnestly.

What was one supposed to say to something like _that_?

"Thank you," Hermione eventually managed, "that can't have been easy to share. I'm sorry about what you had to go through."

By then they had reached Hermione's room. Markl bade her good day and went off to some war council meeting. Hermione entered her room and put her books away, under the distinct impression that she had heard of something similar somewhere before. She shrugged off the feeling, aware that whatever it was would nag her withing an inch of her sanity if she thought on it. And she had bigger proverbial fish to fry.

Through her readings she had come across a mention of a spell that had become forgotten and obsolete in her time – Reverto Domus. In theory it was a way for witches and wizards to save the hassle of travel and send themselves home, as magic folk still had not discovered Apparition or even Floo powder. The question was, of course, wether this could work in a temporal level as well as merely through space. The book had insofar had no other mention of the homing charm. Hermione hoped Merlin knew of someone – _anyone_ – who could at least teach her the proper wand movements.

Around this time of day she knew Arthur would be either practising his swordsmanship or i n some sort of meeting with his father. Merlin would either be standing around looking bored or in the prince's room doing the daily room cleaning. She decided it couldn't hurt to go by Arthur's room. if Merlin wasn't there she could find him later, and if he was she could get a move on on her plans. When she arrived at her destination she knocked on the door and was greeted by a muffled "come in!". She did as the disgruntled voice on the other side of the door requested, finding a frazzled-looking Merlin surrounded by a pile of armour in different states of disrepair. She closed the door behind her and went to stand by the room's sole occupant.

"What are you doing?" she laughed. Arthur was known to be rather partial to give his friend/employee ridiculous or tedious tasks just to drive the young warlock up the wall. She couldn't wait to see what the mischievous young monarch had come up with this time.

"I'm polishing Arthur's armour, sword, and shield for his practice this afternoon. After which I'll need to polish the whole damn thing again," Merlin grumbled as he put the polishing cloth down for a break.

"Well, if I speed that up for you d'you think you might be able to help me with something?" Hermione chuckled.

"I'd say yes if I could, but I don't think Uther would like the idea of you doing a servant's -" Merlin began to say, biut stopped halfway through his sentence when shee slipped out her wand, pointed it at the pile of shabby metal and muttered "Tergeo." The dirt and... other stuff... vanished, leaving the armour shiny and clean.

Hermione would never get tired of Merlin's wide-eyed look whenever she did a spell. It was funny enough when one considered he was also a magic-wielder, and therefore shouldn't be so surprised. It was absolutely hilarious when you knew he was destined to become the greatest wizard in wizarding _and_ muggle history.

She smirked at him.

"You were saying...?"

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**A/N: There! Three pages! And I'm getting started on the next chapter right now! **

**A/N 2: Markl's story is based on one of the short stories in "The Tales Of Beedle the Bard". Specifically, 'The Warlock's Hairy Heart'. It does not follow it word for word because as with most myths and tales, it was changed by storytellers over time until Beedle wrote it down, whenever that was. And as most legends are based on some amount of fact... ;)**


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